State of Despair
by Sara's Shadow
Summary: Sora is off on another journey. After a rough start, he finds out Kairi is also somewhere in that region of space. With a new enemy, Sora is determined to find her, but she's searching for him too. SoraxKairi
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters associated with it and I don't own the name Balamb Garden, SquareEnix owns it all does. The plot, however is mine.**

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Chapter 1

Sora, Donald and Goofy were on their gummi ship for another journey. Sora hated leaving Kairi again, but he didn't want to put her in the danger he faced daily on these journeys. Riku couldn't come for the single reason that his girlfriend demanded he stayed and helped her take care of their son. Who would've thought that Riku would be a father at 18?

Sora and Kairi didn't part on good basis. Donald and Goofy had shown up and they didn't look well. Kairi had looked at Sora with wide eyes and shook her head. Sora looked between his girlfriend and his friends before saying "I have to," Kairi had rushed from the room and to her home upset.

Just before Sora was about to leave, he went to Kairi's house and tried to enter her room, but Kairi had locked it and he could hear her sobbing on the other side. Sora had leaned against the door and said, "I promise to come back to you, Kairi."

Sora wasn't piloting for the fact that he was discouraged about his new situation with Kairi. Sora looked around before holding his hand out and letting the Keyblade materialize in it. It was the Ultima Weapon. Sora narrowed his eyes at it before making it disappear and slumping back down in his chair.

* * *

Kairi sat on her windowsill looking up into the sky. She had stopped crying hours ago and was miserable for not wishing Sora luck on this journey. In her hands was the Othkeeper keychain. She wished she could give it to him to use on his journey but he was gone already.

"I'm sorry, Sora…" Kairi whispered, clutching the keychain close to her heart and closing her eyes.

* * *

The gummi ship jolted, waking Sora up from his sleep. He didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep. Sora looked around and noticed Donald and Goofy doing the same. The ship jolted again and this time, the source appeared. It was a black ship the same size as their gummi ship. The other ship turned around and took aim again.

Donald let out a cry fright, making Sora undo his buckle and take over the pilot's chair.

"What is this? This isn't a heartless ship!" Sora shouted as he steered clear of the other ship's line of fire.

Donald had buckled himself in Sora's previous seat.

"Radio them, Sora! Find out why they are attacking us!" Donald shouted.

Sora punched the radio while barely dodging cannon fire from the other ship.

"Who are you and why are you attacking us!" Sora shouted.

The other ship didn't respond and fired again, striking the gummi ship.

"Oh no! The shields are down to 40!" Goofy shouted while monitoring the display screen.

Sora growled at the other ships strength to be able to take over 60 of the shields.

"Sora! Try and escape to that world down there!" Donald shouted while checking the navigational screen.

Sora spotted the world that Donald was talking about and quickly steered for it.

"Goofy, route all the shield power to the rear, hopefully we'll make it to that planet there before shields are gone."

Goofy did as he was told and Sora made the gummi speed forward with every ounce of power it had.

"It's following us!" Donald shouted.

"We're not going to make!" Goofy shouted.

Sora growled as he urged the ship forward. Then he felt the ship rocked and everything started to spark. Sora pulled his hands back because of the electric shock and the ship plummeted to the world.

"I'm sorry… Kairi…"

* * *

Sora's eyes fluttered open and regained focus. He wasn't in the gummi ship but in another room. He felt too drained to move from his spot to see where he was.

He heard a door slide open and looked over to see a woman with a doctor's jacket on.

"I see your finally awake. I'm Dr. Loss, and you are?" she asked kindly.

"… S-Sora," Sora said with difficulty.

"You need something to drink since you haven't spoken in well over three weeks."

Three weeks? Had it really been that long?

"Your friends woke up the other day but are in no condition to move anytime soon. All of your wounds have healed though and I was just waiting for you wake up. You'll probably be let out in a few days.

"And what were you thinking, piloting your ship to Atlantis of all places, didn't you know that world is completely covered by water?"

Sora weakly shook his head.

"So you're new in this region of space? Well, that explains why your ship is different and not equipped correctly."

Sora looked at her puzzled as she brought him a glass of water. He took it and started drinking it.

"Well, we're all guessing you were attacked by a Despair Ship?"

Sora looked even more confused.

"A pure black ship with amazing fire power."

Sora nodded his head and went back to drinking.

"Well, because of the Despair Ships, it is very necessary to have strong ships to withstand the fire power. Those ships are mostly mother ships, like this one."

"W-We're on a mother ship?"

"Why yes, The Balamb Garden is a mother ship."

Dr. Loss took the glass from Sora and laughed when she saw him yawn.

"Like you haven't slept enough… Ah well, sleep is all you need right now. Goodnight, Sora."

"'ight…" Sora said as he dozed off again."

* * *

Kairi was sitting on the dock on the play island, staring out at the water. She could hear Riku on the sand with Kate, his girlfriend, and their baby boy, Shawn. Further down the beach were Tidus and Wakka, tossing the blitzball back and forth.

Kairi heard someone walking up beside her and looked up to see Selphie sit down beside her. The teens had a long time habit of going to the island staying on the island till after dark. It was mostly a silent time for them, to think and watch the sunset. For the past month, Kairi thought about Sora and wondered where he was. She clutched the Oathkeeper charm in her hands as the sun began to set. Tidus and Wakka had stopped tossing the ball and sat down to watch the sun go down.

After the sun was down, everyone got up and trekked to the boats. They all had their own boats except Kate and Shawn, who rode with Riku.

When they all got to the main island beach, they all began to break apart and go home. Kairi and Riku remained on the beach after everyone had left.

"Hey, Kairi. I'm… well… going to ask Kate to marry me. Do you think she'll say yes?" Riku nervously asked.

Kairi smiled. "She loves you, Riku. You would make the perfect family together."

"Thanks, Kairi. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Same time, same place," Kairi laughed, motioning to the island they just came from."

"Well, night," Riku said as he trekked down the beach to go home.

"Night!" Kairi called after him before walking up the beach and onto the road that would take her home.

It was always quiet this time of night. The island was bigger then the play island, but small enough that everyone on it would eat, sleep and work at the same time.

Kairi stopped and looked around. She felt a shiver go up here spine and felt suddenly cold on the tropical island. She wrapped her arms around herself and started walking again. She was wearing beige short pants, a white shirt tank top, white wristbands and black and white shoes.

She heard something behind her and stopped before turning around. Her hand unconsciously went to the Oathkeeper charm that hung from the belt of her pants.

"Goodnight, Princess Kairi."

A figure appeared in front of Kairi and knocked her out without a peep out of her. He easily picked her up and disappeared again.

* * *

Sora opened his eyes and sat up. He felt ten times better than he did last time he woke up. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and hopped off to stretch. He noticed he was wearing white hospital pants and t-shirt. He looked around to find his clothes and didn't see them anywhere. He walked over to the door and opened his by pressing the button on the side. He stepped out in his bare feet and looked around, trying to find Dr. Loss.

"Excuse me. Can I help you?" someone asked from the opposite direction he was looking.

"Oh, I was wondering where my friends are," Sora asked the strange girl.

The girl appeared to he younger than him, she had ear length black hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing black pants and a dark blue t-shirt under her black jacket. There was a patch that read "Balamb Garden" over her heart.

"Oh your that guy we found on Atlantis. I'm Cassidy, and I believe your friends are in ICU down the hall."

"I'm Sora, and could you show me there?" Sora asked.

"Sure," Cassidy smiled.

Cassidy lead Sora down the hall. They stopped at a door and she opened it. Sora walked inside to she another hall, but with windows all down the side. Sora walked forward and saw Donald laying on a bed with an oxygen mask covering his beak, he was sleeping.

"Doc said that his ribs were broken and they punctured his lungs. But he has been waking up and he's going to make a full recovery," Cassidy said.

"And Goofy?" Sora asked.

"He's going to be okay too. Doc doesn't expect them to be up anytime soon though," said Cassidy as she lead Sora to the next window.

Goofy was lying there with casts on his left arm and both of the legs. He didn't have an oxygen mask like Donald, but he was sleeping too.

"So they're going to be okay?" Sora asked.

"Don't worry, they're going to be fine. Just give them a while, 'kay?"

Sora nodded and followed Cassidy outside to see Dr. Loss standing there with a clipboard.

"Well, your certainly alright if you're up and checking on your friends."

"Yeah…" Sora started.

"Well, I'm going to check on Donald and Goofy. Cassidy, I want you to make sure Sora gets back to that room, and tell your older brother that he's awake and can be moved to his quarters."

"Roger, Ma'am," Cassidy said as she lead Sora back to his hospital room.

"My quarters?" Sora asked.

"You're ship isn't going anywhere and I doubt you'll leave your friends here. And we don't have time to take you all back to where you came from because of the increased hostility from the despairs."

"The despairs… What are they?" Sora asked as they got back to his room.

"Well, you've heard of heartless and nobodies… right?"

"Yeah," Sora said.

"Well, despairs are like them. When a person becomes a heartless, a nobody is formed, right?" Cassidy said.

Sora nodded.

"And you've heard of Organization XIII?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, the human-like nobodies, have human-like despairs, which are bodiless souls that are full of sadness of losing their heart and body and anger towards the people that still have theirs."

"How come I've never seen them before?"

"Well, its hard to say for sure, but my guess is its because there are only around 13 and they just never reached your region of space."

Sora thought about that for a moment and remembered something.

"I was turned into a heartless for a while, and I was turned back again, and I got to meet my nobody too, who is now inside of me. So do I have a despair running around out there too?"

"It's very likely."

Sora flopped back onto the bed, "I have a soul thought… And that must mean that Kairi has a despair too, even if she has a soul."

"Kairi… as in Princess Kairi?"

Sora sat up, "Yeah…"

"Wow, I can't believe you know Princess Kairi! Aunt Georgia is going to flip!"

"Aunt Georgia?"

"She's my father's brother's wife! Her husband's sister was Princess Kairi's mother! Aunt Georgia has been wondering where she was for years!" Cassidy said while jumping up and heading for the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sora asked.

"To tell Mitch that you're awake and to tell Aunt Georgia about you and Princess Kairi. Bye!"

"Bye," Sora said as the door closed.

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**Author's Note: Please don't get made at me! Lot's of new people, but it's still going to focus on Sora and Kairi. Donald and Goofy will get better before the end, I promise! So what do you think? Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Like I said last time, I don't Kingdom Hearts, SquareEnix does. The plot, however, is still mine.

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Chapter 2

Kairi didn't know where she was. She was being looked up in a dungeon somewhere. It was clean and all the surfaces were smooth and dark grey. She leaned against the wall in her sitting position and looked around. She moved her hands from her lap to the floor on either side of her. He left hand touched down on her 'lucky charm'.

Kairi un-clipped it and glared at it.

"So much for being lucky," Kairi said as she threw it across her cell.

It landed near the door and sat idle for a few minuted before glowing and disappearing. Kairi looked at its last position before her right arm shook and a keyblade appeared in her hand.

Kairi looked at the keyblade and knew it was the Oathkeeper. Sora had shown her what it looked like a long time ago.

She heard the door to the dungeon opening and she stared at the keyblade in fear it would be seen, and it disappeared right before her eyes. Kairi looked up to see a black haired woman with pigtails and a black jumpsuit come in.

"Morning, Princess. Brought you your breakfast."

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Lauren."

"Were you the one who brought me here?"

"No, that was Sarg. He was boasting that he took you right from underneath the keyblade master's nose."

"Kayblade master… You mean Sora?"

"Is that his name? Ah well, it doesn't matter, because he's not going to get you back."

Kairi glared at the older woman as set the tray down in front of Kairi's cell and left.

Kairi fought back tears as she curled up in a ball in her cell. Breakfast going forgotten.

* * *

Once again, Riku sat on the beach. Kate and Shawn weren't with him this time. Shawn was sick and Kate insisted that he went to the island, not wanting to break his habit. 

Riku looked and saw Tidus, Wakka and Selphie talking by the pond, but he couldn't find Kairi. He knew she always came to the island even if she was feeling under the weather.

Riku walked over to the trio and asked, "Have any of you seen Kairi?"

The boys shook their heads and Selphie said, "She wasn't home when I went over so I thought she was downtown somewhere."

Riku had a bad feeling and hurried to his boat. He was worried about Kairi himself and he also knew that Sora would do something drastic if anything happened to her.

Riku jumped off his boat and ran to Kairi's small flat that she lived in by herself and knocked on the door.

Kairi didn't answer and he tried opening it to find that it was locked. Riku went to find the spare key and let himself into the house.

"KAIRI! KAIRI!"

Riku knew she wasn't there. He knew she was kidnapped and had a gut feeling told him that she wasn't even on Destiny Islands anymore.

* * *

Sora looked around his dorm. Mitch stood in the doorway. 

"You're allowed to decorate it however you want. I know your not going to be here forever like that rest of us are but we're all allowed so that we can fell more at home.

Sora nodded.

"Well, since your clothes are not exactly wearable, I'm going to take you to Balamb's own fitter."

"A fitter?"

"She makes clothes for Balamb's personnel she's works hard and fast to make people look good when we're not in uniform.

Sora looked Mitch and his uniform. It was like Cassidy's but instead of a dark blue shirt, he had a red shirt.

"Why do you have a different uniform than Cassidy?"

"Cassidy and I don't do the same things around here. The shirts are colour-coded, red is for soldier, dark blue is for mechanic, yellow is for medical personnel, blue is for the people on the bridge, gray is for scientists, white is for family members who don't have jobs and black is for any other people. You will probably get one for now until Wylie finishes some new clothes for you."

Sora nodded and followed Mitch back out. Sora had seen his clothes and they were no longer wearable. Just his shoes made it. They walked back to the elevator and went two floors down. Mitch led the way down the hall and to a door before leading Sora inside.

"Hello, Mitch. And this must be the teenager Doc told me about. I was looking at your clothes and couldn't help but notice that they had magical properties. Why is this?" asked Wylie.

"Donald, Goofy and I travel to different worlds to protect them," Sora started.

"Why bother, why don't you just take care of your own world?" Mitch asked.

"Because, I have the keyblade. It's my duty."

"Keyblade… You're a keyblade master?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, that makes three in total for this region. Man, we have some luck to find you in the ocean of Atlantis."

"Three? There are other keyblade masters here?"

"Well not on this ship, one comes around occasionally because she's the Doc's daughter and Doc made her promise to visit every once in a while," said Wylie.

"And the other one?" Sora asked.

"He's one the Twilight Savior mother ship. He's their army's commander."

"Oh…" Sora said.

"They are Damia and Damien. Damia never stays in one place. She's always on this ship, Damien's ship or on a world. Damien occasionally gets off the ship and goes with her but he can't leave for too long."

"Because he's the commander."

"Right. You weld the keyblade. Can I assume that you will help us?"

"Well, the reason why I'm here is because me and my friends were going to seal keyholes on other world in a different region of space. Me and my friends were on our way to a world called Kelowna," Sora said.

"Oh dear. You were so close to that world. Had you made it closer there then they could've use their satellite cannon to help you."

Sora sighed, "Oh…"

"But you're all ok and you can continue, if you want, or you can wait for the mechanics to fix your ship and make it stronger to withstand an attack from the despair ships so you can go home. The choice is yours."

Sora nodded.

"Well, I'm going to get started. In the mean time, you can find a uniform that fits you and take two. Make sure they're black shirts though. And another thing, do you want me to add in the magic that on your old one?" Wylie asked.

"If you can, that would be great. If you can't then don't worry about it," Sora said.

"Okay, dear. Now Mitch, show him to the uniforms."

Mitch nodded and led Sora over to the next room. There were lines of jackets and bins of shirts and pants everywhere. Mitch walked over to a bin, knowing what sizes were where. And tossed Sora a couple pairs of pants.

"Go in the change room and try them one," Mitch said pointing to a door.

Sora nodded and walked into the change room. He came out a minute later with a pair of black pants on. The other pairs were in his arms with the white hospital pants. Sora told Mitch the size and he pulled out another pair for Sora and put the other ones away. Mitch then went to a bin of black shirts and pulled out a few for Sora to try on. Sora just pulled off the white shirt he already had on and took a shirt from Mitch to try one. The first one turned out to be the size Sora usually wore. It wasn't baggy on him and it wasn't tight on him. Mitch grabbed another shirt the same size and gave it to Sora before heading over to the line of jackets. Sora browsed the jackets himself before pulling out one that fit him nicely.

"You only need one of those," Mitch said.

Sora nodded and Mitch led him out of the room. They stopped in the hall so that they could talk.

"Okay. You saw the dorm, there's a lock on the inside so you can lock it and when you make a password, you'll get a keycard so you can lock it when you leave. There's a washroom at the end of each hall that you share with the people in your hall, which is eight people most of the time. But there are only six in your hall right now, as the other two rooms have been reserved for your friends when they are released. Breakfast starts at 0400 hours and goes till 1000 hours. Then the cafeteria is closed for an hour for cleaning, but there is a place outside where you can sit and there's tea, coffee, hot chocolate and other things to drink along with snack foods. The cafeteria reopens at 1100 for lunch and goes till 1400 hours. When they stop serving lunch they serve other snack foods until supper, which starts at 1600 hours and runs till 2100 hours. Then its snack food just set out so that the cooks can sleep."

"You only have the people cooking?"

"No, there are four cycles of cooks for every six months. They alternate days for six months, and then they have time off to either go back to their world, or to just relax."

"Six months?"

"Everyone has a six month shift, or an all year shift. People who live on this ship work all year or three-quarter shifts."

"Okay, makes sense."

"There's an alarm clock in your room if you ever need it, and a video phone with a networked phone book that is displayed on the screen if you need it. If an alarm goes off saying 'code red' or 'code blue' then you follow the instructions on the sign that's posted in the hall."

Sora nodded, trying to remember everything.

"Your ship is in the hanger currently being fixed and upgraded. When it's done you be told. If you get lost, there are signs everywhere that'll point you to where you want to go. The first floor is the garden floor if you need to sight see."

"Okay," Sora said, finally getting everything.

"You can wander around anywhere you want, just don't get in the workers way, or if you go to the bridge, then don't bother then, just watch. I'd steer clear of the second floor at 1500 hours because that when the classes let out."

"There's a school on here?" Sora said, worried that they would make him go to school.

"It's only for the kids with parents that work on here. They'll either start training for work at 14, or continue going to school until 16, then they have to either start working, or go to their home world to either continue schooling or start working. These people are wearing white shirts."

"Why to their homeworld, can't they go to a world of their choice?"

"They can, after they go to their home world, then they have to go through world security to become a citizen of a different world. And if they break laws, then they are sent back."

Sora nodded and then asked, "You're a soldier right? What you do on here?"

"I'm a captain. To my team and when I'm on duty I'm Captain Nightwalker. I'm on my time off right now."

"What kind of a shift do you have?"

"Soldier shifts are different from the regular shifts. Cadets work nine months; Lieutenants work ten months; Captains like myself work every month and get weekends off; and Commanders work all year and get a week off every month. It's scheduled so that only one commander is off and the rest are on duty. Lieutenants and Cadets are scheduled so that the same amount are on duty all the time, every they're on with other people."

Sora tilted his head trying to figure it out.

"Aren't you just full of questions. Well there are groups. Cadets have eight groups and Lieutenants have six. The groups are spread out with the months. From January to March, groups A, B, C, E, F, and G would work; From April to June groups A, B, D, E, F and H would work; From July to September, A, C, D, E, G and H work; and from October to December, groups B, C, D, F, G and H would work. The same logic goes for Lieutenants only with six groups though."

Sora nodded.

"Well, I'm going to leave you to explore. Cassidy and Aunt Georgia are stopping by your dorm tomorrow before Aunt Georgia's shift at 1000 hours."

"Okay," Sora said.

"Well, I'm going. Supper will be served shortly and I have a date to go to."

"Thanks, Mitch. And have fun on your date."

"No problem. And I'll have fun."

Mitch disappeared into the elevator, leaving Sora standing in the hallway. Sora walked to another elevator and went to the sixth floor to see Donald and Goofy.

Sora walked into the ICU and stood in the hall so that he could look into both of the windows. Dr. Loss was in Donald's room checking on him. She noticed him as she left the room.

"Donald's awake if you want to go and talk to him."

Sora brightened up and went into the room. Donald looked at him through tired eyes and smiled.

"Hey man," Sora said while sitting beside him.

"Hey, Sora. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I got let out this morning," Sora said quietly.

"That's good," Donald said.

"…I-I'm sorry, this is all my fault," Sora said with looking down at the clothes on his lap.

"No it's not. It was that black ship's fault. You tried to get us out of there. And we're all going to be fine."

"But still…"

"Awww, Sora."

Sora just sat there looking at the spare clothes on his lap.

"They said there are two other keyblade masters around here. Maybe I can help them," Sora said.

"Getting out would be good for you, Sora. And when your done, we can go home," Donald said.

Sora smiled and nodded.

"No more sad faces," Donald said.

"No more sad faces," Sora repeated before getting up and heading for the door, "Okay, I'll come and see you guys later!"

"Bye, Sora," Donald said.

Sora looked over into Goofy's room to see that he was still sleeping. So he decided that he would leave him be and left the ICU and headed for the elevator. He was about to punch the number for the floor where his dorm was but decided against it and went to the first floor to see this garden for himself.

* * *

**Author's Note: So there's another chapter. What do you think? Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Nothing's changed, I don't own Kingdom Hearts and in this chapter, the concept of Atlantis isn't mine either.

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Chapter 3

Kairi sat in her cell, looking around. Another tray of food sat just outside, untouched like that last one. She wished there was a window, somewhere so that she could look outside and see what time of day it was; unless it was like The World That Never Was and was always dark outside.

She closed her eyes and started recalling her conversations with Sora when he talked about his keyblade.

"Even if I wasn't using the Oathkeeper, I kept it handy, to bring me luck. It did bring me luck because it brought me back to you," Sora said, holding out the Oathkeeper for Kairi to see.

Kairi smiled at the memory and started thinking of other ones.

"There always seemed to be a locked door when we tried to get somewhere. But it didn't matter because I had the keyblade and it got us to where we needed to go."

Kairi opened one eye and looked at the cell door, 'Locked door, huh?'

"The keyblade can open any lock and lock any one."

Kairi stood up and looked around before summoning the Oathkeeper and pointing it at the lock on the cell door. A light emitted from the tip and shot at the lock. Kairi heard a click and knew it was open. Kairi almost cried with joy, but she knew she had to hurry and get out.

Kairi pushed the door open slowly, trying not to make any noise. When she got out, she hurried for the door and exited the dungeon. She crept along the walls and searched for a way out. She carefully tried doors, only to find that most of them were empty.

She saw another door and felt her heart reach out for it. She crept up to it and opened the door a little to find two people sitting in it, both looking pretty lifeless. Kairi opened it fully and walked in to see these people.

One was a girl and one was a boy. The boy had black spiky hair and the girl had long, light brown hair. The boy wore a black jumpsuit like Lauren did and the girl wore black short pants and a green t-shirt. Kairi got closer and looked into their eyes.

The boy had ocean blue eyes like Sora and that girl had blue eyes like herself.

"They're… us…" Kairi said, referring to herself and Sora.

There was a flicker of life in the girl's eyes, but died down as quickly as it came.

"Can you hear me?" Kairi asked the girl.

She slowly nodded. Kairi knew she wouldn't get far with these teenagers so she looked around for anything she could use to find they're names. She finally noticed tags around their necks, like one she barely noticed on Lauren. She grabbed the girl's tag and read it.

'Rachael'

Kairi dropped the tag and went to the boy and grabbed his tag and read it.

'Skye'

"What's wrong with you two?"

_"**You know, Kairi. I think their problem is that we're one now."**_

_'Namine?'_

_"**I think they may be a third part of us, and when we rejoined, it took away their reason for existence. Same with Sora, Roxas and that boy there, Skye."**_

_'So what is she?'_

_"**Well, my theory is that when you lost your heart, you were split into three…"**_

_'Heart, body, and soul…'_

_"**Exacty. I think she is or was your soul."**_

Kairi thought she understood. So she reached out to Rachael and took her hand and closed her eyes. Rachael's body shuddered and glowed pick.

"Thank you, Kairi," said Rachael.

Kairi glowed pink and Rachael disappeared into her. Next, she turned her focus onto Skye.

"I can't leave him here," Kairi whispered before reaching out and pulling him to his feet. She threw his right arm over her shoulder and grabbed it with her right arm before grabbing his belt of his jumpsuit and started for the door. She opened it and looked around before exiting.

_'I need a way to get out of here…"_

_"**I can help you there," said a new voice.**_

_'Rachael?'_

_"**Yeah. Go left until you get to the end of the hall."**_

_'Okay.'_

Kairi dragged Skye to the end of the hall and waited for Rachael while looking around for any intruders.

_"**Go right. At the end of this hall is a door to the hanger. It's empty at this time because the Despairs have an objective meeting right now."**_

_'Okay.'_

Kairi pulled Skye along the hall and to the door. She let go of his hand to see that it was locked. She summoned up the keyblade and unlocked it herself. The door slid open to reveal a hanger full of black despair ships.

_"**Take the closest one so you don't have to drag Skye far."**_

Kairi hurried to the nearest one and walked up the ramp into the open door. She hurried to the chairs in front and put Skye into it and buckled him in before getting into the pilot's chair and looking at the controls with confusion.

_"**Here, allow me."**_

_'How?'_

_"**Like this."**_

Kairi saw a pink glow surround her and then saw Rachael leaning over the controls.

_"**We're going to Atlantis. They can help us there. They could also use this ship and study it to find a way to destroy them."**_

_'What if they find us?'_

_"**They may, but they wont catch us."**_

_'How come?'_

_"**Because, I was the best pilot here. Until I became the way you found me. I had lots of time to think about the despairs goals and I started to remember that I wasn't exactly real. So I was waiting for you to come. I was starting to have doubts though."**_

_'Doubts?'_

_"**How long have you been united with your nobody?"**_

_'Two years…'_

_"**Skye and I have been like this for two years."**_

Kairi shuddered but Rachael continued working. Finally the ship roared to life and sped out of the hanger. Kairi looked out and saw all of the purplish black creatures surrounding the castle that just flew out of.

_"**That extra security was for you, Kairi."**_

_'Me?'_

_"**Can't have the purist Princess of Heart unguarded."**_

_'Oh…'_

_"**There's action going on down there, looks like that keyblade master, Damia and her boyfriend's mother ship is in orbit. Good thing those things can't destroy these ships yet."**_

Kairi looked down and saw the despairs attacking a figure. But they were dispersing quickly. Kairi looked forward again and saw the biggest ship she had ever seen. They fired at them but like Rachael said, they couldn't destroy them.

_"**Entering Warp Space."**_

Kairi watched the space in front of her disappear as they sped up for a few moments and then dropped out a moment later near a world.

_"**That's Atlantis. I'm broadcasting a signal not to shoot. They'll want to speak with video surveillance. So tell them that you escaped from the Dark Castle and that you and Skye need help."**_

_'Got it.'_

Just as Rachael had said, a video popped up with a black haired man with deeply tanned skin and a dark Blue jacket that read Atlantis on the left breast.

"State your name."

"My name is Kairi. I just escaped from the Dark Castle and my friend and I need help."

"…Our patrol crew will come and escort you to the landing bay. Please standby."

Kairi sighed and looked back at Skye, who stared forward lifelessly.

'Just wait a little longer. I'm going to get you to Sora soon.'

Just then, two ships appeared and flew around the despair ship. Rachael appeared and started flying in towards the planet with the other ships flying on the side. They flew into the water and towards a beautiful city.

"Wow…" Kairi awed.

A door opened and Rachael flew the ship inside and landed. The two other ships landed elsewhere and the door closed. The shield kept the water out but the door closed behind them. Kairi got up and unbuckled Skye before puling him to the exit. She dropped the ramp and opened the door to get out. She carefully got Skye down the steps and gasped when she saw a group of people with guns aimed at them. Kairi instinctively let go of Skye's hand and summoned the keyblade and held it in front of them.

Murmurs about the keyblade sounded and everyone put down their weapons.

"Kairi is it? How did you get your hands on a despair ship."

Kairi didn't let down the keyblade, "I told you, I escaped from the Dark Castle."

"Then why do you have a despair hanging off of you?"

Kairi let down her guard a bit to look at Skye, who was still as lifeless as ever.

"He's may be a despair. But he needs help. He needs the rest of him. I have to get him to Sora!"

"Hn. Follow us then."

Kairi kept the keyblade out but grabbed Skye's hand again and followed the group. They led her to the main control room, and made her stand in front of a man on a big chair, who looked like a King.

"Sir. The girl is called Kairi and she brought a despair."

The leader almost jumped form his seat as he looked at Kairi.

"Princess Kairi?"

Everyone took in a sharp intake of breath and more murmurs about Princess Kairi being a keyblade master. Kairi looked at Skye and pursed her lips.

"Look, I may be a princess of heart, and I may wield a keyblade, but right now I don't care. I have to get to Sora!"

Everyone looked around. The leader finally said, "The Balamb Garden Mother Ship will be coming around in a few months. You can get on with them to get to Sora."

_'A few months? I don't want to wait that long,'_ Kairi though miserably.

_"**Kairi, take the offer. This is all you have right now," Namine said.**_

_"**Listen to her, Kairi. These mother ships are hard to find in open space. We should wait till one comes," Rachael agreed.**_

"Okay. I'll wait," Kairi said.

A few people came up with arms outstretched to take Skye from her, but she spun around with her keyblade and they backed away.

"Princess Kairi, you can't go around threatening my guard with your keyblade. They were merely going to take the despair to… a room that he can sleep in."

"Excuse my rudeness, sir. But I would rather he was near me. For obvious reasons," Kairi said in a low tone.

_"**Good call, Kairi. Who knows what they might do to him," Rachael said.**_

"Very well. Guard, show the princess to her quarters."

The guards nodded and led Kairi away. They go onto a floating platform and started to fly around the city. Kairi looked around in awe of the underwater city. They finally stopped in front of a building and she was led inside. They showed her to a room with one bed.

"The despair will sleep in the room across from you. Dinner will be sent up to you shortly, Princess Kairi."

Kairi nodded, glad that they are leaving. She entered Skye's room and sat him on the bed. She stretched her tired muscles and kneeled beside the bed.

"Skye?" Kairi tried.

Skye remained lifeless.

"I know you can hear me, and I want you to know that I'll find Sora, and you'll be alright."

Skye suddered and fell off the bed and onto Kairi. At first Kairi thought it was an accident. But then Skye's arms flexed around her and he weakly hugged her.

"Skye?"

"**He's thanking you, Kairi. He may be lifeless, but he's not dead," Rachael said.**

Kairi hugged him back.

_"I could physically wait for Sora. But can I mentally?"

* * *

Sora decided he would wander up to the bridge to see what things were like up there. He walked out of the elevator and into the bridge._

"Where is Damia now?" Demanded the captain.

"I'm right here," a girl said as she stepped into view with the man.

"Report!"

"The castle had extra security, sir. I have reason to believe that they were keeping something or someone in there that they didn't want anyone to take from them," she said.

"Like what?"

"I can't say for sure. But a despair ship flew out of the hanger. And it didn't attack our mother ship. It just jump in to warp speed."

"Where did it go?"

The man on the video feed spoke, "As always, despair ships scatter their coordinates so we can follow, they could be anywhere."

The girl spoke next, "As I was leaving, I felt the anger erupt all around. I think that whatever they were guarding was on that ship that took off."

"Are you saying that THEY had an intruder and they stole from the despairs?"

"Or maybe the intruder was their hostage and they escaped on the despair ship."

"Roger, over and out."

The screen cut out the captain yelled, "You heard Damia! We have to find that ship and see who's on it!"

Sora stood back and watched them work.

_'So that was Damia. Who was the other guy?'_

_"**My guess would be that Damien guy," said Roxas.**_

Talking to Roxas wasn't uncommon to Sora. They talked often over the past two years.

_'I think that's a fair guess.'_

"You, you're Sora right?"

Sora jumped and looked up to see the captain.

"Uhhh, Yessir!" Sora said.

"Good. So you heard Damia's report?"

"Yessir."

"We are meeting up with the Twilight Savior in 72 hours. You will get to meet Damien and Damia then. We'll also discuss an action plan about this despair ship they spoke of.

"Yessir."

**"You know, Sora. I'm getting a funny feeling about that despair ship."**

_'Me too, Roxas. Me too.'

* * *

_

**Author's Note: So another chapter done. How do you think it's coming? Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Nope, Kingdom Hearts in not mine and also in this chapter, Endiness and other characters from Legend of Dragon. Although, some I did make up myself.

* * *

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Chapter 4

Sarg was beyond angry, he had reached the point where steam could come out of his ears. His princess was gone, and with her had gone Skye and Rachael.

"I knew those two airheads were up to no good!" Sarg shouted as he kicked the tray of food on the floor.

Lauren stared straight in front of her with her arms crossed, "I don't think so. Those two were definitely screwed, they have been for two years. And she couldn't have dragged them both to the ship, we would've caught them."

"You probably helped them escape," Sarg accused.

"I did not! I was in the meeting too!" Lauren shouted back.

"Silence!"

The two bickering despairs stopped and looked at the third despair, Lloyd.

"Did any one of you even think about looking at their despair stones?"

"Uhhh, no," they both sighed.

"Lea just reported to me that Rachael's is yellow… Do you imbeciles know what that means?"

They both stood, blinking at Lloyd.

"Rachael has merged with her original self. Princess Kairi was Rachael's original person."

"And what about Skye? Why did she take him with her?"

"Princess Kairi probably knows who his original self is," Lloyd said in annoyance.

Lloyd disappeared into a purple light. Sarg turned and punched the wall and Lauren looked indifferent.

"Sarg, this obsession is going to far. You're going to jeopardize our cause," Lauren said.

"Mark my words, Lauren. Princess Kairi will be mine."

* * *

Kairi woke up in her temporary bed. Rachael was alarmed. "Kairi, it's Skye!" Rachael panicked. Kairi and Skye had been there for a few days, remaining confined in their rooms. Kairi sprinted from bed and put her shoes on and ran out of the room to Skye's. He was sitting up with his arms around his knees and his face buried in them and shuddering. 

"Skye?"

He didn't stop.

"_**Kairi, go check the walls, see if you can hear anything," Namine suggested.**_

Kairi crawled over Skye's bed and pressed her ear to the wall and listened. She faintly heard people talking. She strained her hearing and listened harder.

"Let's kill the despair now while the princess is sleeping," said a voice.

"It's obvious that he's brainwashed her," said another.

Kairi jumped from the wall and wasted no time in getting Skye's shoes on his feetand pulling him up from the bed. That was when she realized he was standing on his own.

**_"He can sense Sora in you and it's familiar to him. Just hold his hand and he'll follow," Rachael said with understanding._**

Kairi held his hand and pulled him to the door, he followed but his eyes still showed no signs of life. Kairi opened the door and looked around to see that the coast was clear. She pulled him down the hall to the elevator, only to see it was coming up

**_"The stairs!" Namine cried._**

Kairi ran for the side door and pulled Skye in, she heard people coming up so she ran up the stairs as far as she could. She opened the last door to see she was on the roof.

"Oh no!" Kairi said with despair, dropping Skye's hand.

Skye walked to edge and Kairi followed.

"Skye?"

Skye held out his hand to her.

"Jump? Are you crazy?" Kairi said.

"_**Trust him, Kairi!" Rachael shouted.**_

Kairi spun around to she the doorknob turning. She grabbed Skye's hand and closed her eyes. He pulled her close and jumped off the building. Kairi resisted the urge to scream and opened her eyes. Skye looked lifelessly at the ground as it neared.

"Skye…" Kairi started.

Skye didn't respond.

"Skye!" Kairi shouted.

Suddenly, they stopped falling and started floating down until they touched down. No one was out there, obviously inside looking for her and Skye.

"Come on!" Kairi said as she ran over to one of the lifts.

**_"Allow me," Rachael said._**

Rachael appeared and started playing with the controls until the lift roared to life and they took off. Rachael got them away fast. Kairi turned to Skye and hugged him.

"Thanks, Skye," Kairi said.

Skye weakly nodded his head in her hair.

**_"We're going to the hanger. We'll leave the despair ship for them and take one of theirs," Rachael said._**

Kairi was remembering how they got their and knew that Rachael was the one that took note. They pulled into the hanger to find minimal guard there. Rachael disappeared and Kairi took Skye's hand and led him inside.

**_"Be carefully, Kairi. They're still probably looking for Skye," Namine cautioned._**

Kairi nodded to herself and snuck in. She summoned the Oathkeeper and walked along the wall with Skye trailing behind. She soon found the door to the hanger. The door to the hanger was locked so Kairi used the Oathkeeper to open it.

**_"Nearest one, Kairi," Rachael reminded._**

Kairi ran to the one right in front of her and ran up the ramp. She helped Skye get into a seat and buckled before she ran and closed the door. She ran back to the pilot's seat and looked at the controls. Rachael appeared and started pushing buttons.

The door out opened in the distance and alarms went off.

"Rachael…" Kairi growled as she saw the small doors opening and the guards running in.

**_"I'm on it!" Rachael said._**

Rachael pulled back on a switch and the ship took off, the autopilot got them out of the hanger and out of the ocean. Rachael sped away from the planet and in warp space.

* * *

Sora sat in the conference room with various other crewmembers. They had met with the Twilight Savior and were just waiting for the to come in. 

He thought about the other day, when Cassidy brought her Aunt Georgia to see him about Kairi. Talking about her had made him feel bad for leaving her again for nobody knows how long. He did answer Georgia's questions nevertheless.

She asked him questions like how long he had known her and how close they were and Sora answered the all honestly, because he felt Kairi's aunt deserved to know. She also asked where they lived and he told her that they lived on Destiny Islands. Georgia had leftsaying that one day she would go to Destiny Islands and see her neice for the first timeRadiant Garden and her homeworld, Gemity cut contact because of the increased hosility of Heartless, Nobodies and Despairs.

Sora leaned back in his chair, wondering when the others were coming so that he could focus on something else other than the other day.

A few moments later, five people walked inside and took seats in the conference room and they began their meeting.

"Damia, Damien, I am glad you're okay after the incident at the Black Castle. We kept a scanner out for the despair ship you spoke of," the captain, or Commander Delta said.

They both nodded.

"This young lad beside me here is the other key bearer I spoke of. I believe he is going to assist you on your journey until his friends recover," Commander Delta continued.

The both nodded again. Damia opened her mouth to speak only to be interrupted by an incoming transmission. The commander pressed a button beside him on the table and saw the Atlantian Commander appear on screen in a foul mood.

"Commander Holtz, what is the meaning of this?' Commander Delta asked.

"_There has been a incident. A few of my guards where plotting to kill one of our guests."_

"May I ask what this has to do with us?" The commander asked.

_"They arrived a few days ago in a Despair ship. It was a non-responsive Despair and Princess Kairi herself."_

Everyone gasped, but Sora jumped from his seat, "Kairi? Kairi was there?" Sora said with shock.

Commander Holtz eyed Sora and then said, _"You must be Sora."_

"Yes! Please, tell where she is!" Sora pleaded.

_"She is not here and that's why I'm contacting you. She came here with a despair a few days ago. She was protecting him and wouldn't let my guards near him. Last night my guard went against my order and decided to killed the lad. They both escaped with an Atlantis ship and left us the Despair ship. My engineers are working on it now to find out what makes it powerful and hopefully find a way to attack them and destroy them."_

"And of the guards in question?" Commander Delta asked with irritation.

_"They are being punished for their actions, Commander Delta."_

Sora blurted out with anger, "How come you didn't say that she was there before?"

"Sora, calm down, we'll find them," Commander Delta cautioned.

"She said she was looking for me! If you guys are as tight-knit as you all seem to be then why didn't you say anything!" Sora asked in anger.

Before anyone could say anything, Sora was flat on his back and Damia was standing over him with her keyblade at his neck.

"Calm down, kid!" she growled.

Sora huffed, "If she was your only love then what would you do?"

Damia looked back at Damien who was standing up at his chair. They both sighed and Damia took a few steps back while Damien sat down.

"I have to find her," Sora declared while getting up.

"Wait," Commander Delta said to Sora before turning to the screen with Commander Holtz, "What of the despair?"

_"Witnesses say that they saw the princess and him jump from the roof of the building they were staying in and they floated to the ground. They also said that he was walking, being lead by Princess Kairi by hand. I don't understand it. The despair looks like he's dead with his eyes open. Why, when they first came here he could barely walk and seemed so lifeless."_

_"**The Despairs are like nobodies, right? Ask what the despair looked like and what his name was," Roxas said.**_

"What was his name? And what did he look like?" Sora asked.

_"Black, spiky hair… looking at you now makes me think of him. And I believe she called him Skye…"_

Sora understood, "He's my despair…" he said.

"What?" Damia asked.

"I was turned into a heartless three years ago. I've reunited with my nobody, and I still had a despair out there right? Kairi has my despair with her! She must've found him at the Black Castle and brought him with her when she escaped," Sora said.

"Makes sense," Damia agreed.

"Knowing that, she probably reunited with hers to… I doubt Kairi knows how to pilot ships. Maybe her despair knew how and that's how she got out," Sora said mostly to himself.

"Okay, everything you said makes sense, but how do you explain the lifelessness of your despair. Why is he like that?" Damia asked.

Sora crossed his arms in thought. Commander Holtz started to talk again.

_"Another thing… Is anyone aware that Princess Kairi is a key bearer also?"_

"What!" everyone in the room shouted. Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his key chains and looked through his collection when he realized he didn't have the Oathkeeper.

"It's the Oathkeeper. It's her lucky charm. That must be it!" Sora said.

"So we have a princess keybearer and a half-dead despair of Sora out there in an Atlantis ship out there… Any ideas?" Damien asked.

_"I have one,"_ Everyone turned to listen, _"The Atlantis cruiser she took can only function near Atlantis. She'll have to land near here for safety or for a new ship. Look on the surrounding worlds for her. I don't think she would be stupid enough not to land."_

"It's a start, Damia, Damien, Sora. I'll leave it to you. You can take the Diamond Dust from the hanger," Commander Delta said.

"Now?" they all asked.

"Yes now," the commander snapped.

The three ran from the conference room.

"Wait!" Sora said before running back to the elevator.

"What?" Damia hissed.

They followed Sora to Wylie.

"Ah Sora! Here your clothes are done," Wylie said, handing Sora the clothes.

"Thanks!" Sora said in a hurry as they left.

"They must have something important to do," she laughed.

Sora followed Damien and Damia to the hanger and into a blue and silver ship. Damien jumped into the pilot's seat and fired up the engine.

"Request for take off granted, Diamond Dust. You are clear to go."

"Thank you dispatch," Damien said.

The ship went on autopilot to get out of the hanger. As soon as they were out in space, he took control of the ship. He flew the ship away from the mother ship and waited for Damia to set a course for them to take. Damia scanned the map and picked a planet.

"Setting coordinates for Endiness," Damia said.

"You think she'd go there?" Damien asked.

"Well, it's the closest to Atlantis," Damia mumbled.

"Right, let's go."

'Kairi, I'm coming,' Sora thought to himself.

Sora didn't realize just how far he would have to go to get Kairi back.

* * *

**Author's Note: AHHH! They were going to kill Skye! I used Sora's abilities to float from KH2, you know when you press thesquare button while in the air and instead for pushing the stick forward to make Sora fly and just let him sit there, he floats down. Thanks for the reviews so far, guys! Anways, what do you think about this chapter? Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I also don't own Gemity or any other concepts from Star Ocean. SquareEnix owns it all. **

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 5

**_"Kairi, we have a problem, we need to drop out of warp space," Rachael said with a bit of panic._**

'_What is it?' Kairi asked._

**_"It looks like this ship can't function that far away from Atlantis. We must've grabbed the wrong one… They all look the same…" Rachael mumbled before dropping from warp space._**

'_How far did we go?'_

**_"Not far. This ship isn't like a Despair ship. I'm landing on that world there or else we're toast," Rachael said._**

Kairi nodded and turned to look at Skye, whose eyes were closed and he was leaning back against the seat.

'_He's asleep!'_

**_"We did sleep, Kairi."_**

'_I've just never seen him sleep before.'_

**_"It probably took a lot out of him to jump and float down that building earlier."_**

'_Oh yeah…'_

**_"Now landing on strange world. Hold on tight this is going to be close…"_**

Kairi double-checked on Skye to see that he was walking up. Once again his eye's were lifeless and looking straight ahead.

They landed just as the engine gave out, causing the ship to shudder. Rachael disappeared and Kairi unbuckled herself and stood up to help Skye out. She took his hand and led him to the door and outside.

"Hey, Skye? Can you see over there, there's a city. And they're going to help us. I hope…" Kairi said, mostly for herself.

She felt Skye squeeze her hand. She looked back and smiled at him. For a moment, his eye's shone and the shine disappeared again. Kairi squeezed his hand back and started for the city.

Black and purple creatures formed around her and she yelped, summoning the Oathkeeper. She let go of Skye's hand and prepare to fight them. The despairs lunged for her and she hit them back, one by one. She was trying to protect Skye from them, even though she was having problems protecting herself.

"Ahh!" Kairi yelled as she was hit to the ground.

The despairs started to close in on her.

'So this is it… I'm sorry Skye… I'm sorry Sora…'

Skye gasped and a light burst from him, destroying the despairs and saving Kairi. Skye collapsed to ground. Kairi opened her eyes and stood up. When she saw Skye on the ground, she rushed to his side and shook him.

"Skye? Skye! Please say of do something!" Kairi pleaded.

**_"Just wait, Kairi. He's not going anywhere for a while," Rachael said sadly._**

Kairi nodded and sat beside Skye as he just slept there. His chest rose up and down slowly. Kairi pulled her knees up to her chest and held his hand. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep, toppling over with her head and Skye's chest.

* * *

Sora, Damia and Damien walked around the village. Everyone would stop and stare at them. 

"It's almost like they don't get visitors here," Damien said quietly.

"We do. But this village is small so we know who's just visiting and who's not. You are not from Serdio, are you?" a girl said from behind them.

The three turned to see a woman with a small child in her arms.

"No, we're not from around here," Damia said with practiced ease.

"Well, my name is Shana, and this is my youngest child, Teyla. Welcome to Seles."

"Thank you. I'm Damia, and these are Damien and Sora."

"Please come to my home and meet my family."

"Oh, we're just passing through, we're looking for someone."

"Oh, my husband and eldest daughter may be able to help you."

Damien looked at Damia and said, "It's worth a shot."

Damia nodded, "Okay."

Shana nodded and lead the trio a little ways away and into a small home. Inside was a little boy about three years old and a little girl about eight years old.

"Hi, Mommy. Daddy and Peta are outside practicing again," the little girl said.

"Thank you Lydia," Shana said before leading the group out back.

Out back was a small area used as a back yard. A tall, blond man and a young teenager were outside with real swords and armor, fighting.

The blond man swung carefully so he didn't hurt his daughter. She, however, swung hard. He was able to block the attack but you could tell that all this training was making him tired.

"Okay, that's enough for tonight, Peta," the blond said.

"Okay, Dad," said Peta before putting making her sword disappear.

"Oh, you're new around here? I'm Dart Feld and this is my daughter, Peta," said the blond, Dart.

"I'm Sora."

"I'm Damien."

"Damia."

Shana stepped towards her husband, "They are looking for someone."

Dart thought for a moment, "Albert has said that a strange man in a black suit has been wandering around Bale and causing problems for the townsfolk."

"A despair!" growled Damien.

"You know them?" asked Dart.

"They're causing trouble everywhere," said Damia to Dart. She turned to Sora, "We should help them out, and maybe we'll find Kairi and that Skye person."

Sora nodded, "Okay."

"Peta, show them to rooms they can sleep in tonight," Shana said to her daughter.

"Okay, Mom," Peta said before leading the trio into the house.

Shana turned to her husband, "Will you go with them?"

Dart crossed his arms, "I think Peta would like to go, she knows the way to Bale and she's a skilled swordsman. I also trust those guys. I know they'll watch her back."

"You know, I think you're right. A trip without us might do her good," Shana said, grabbing onto Dart's arm.

* * *

Kairi groaned as she woke up. As she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she realized she was on a bed and not on the barren that Skye passed out on. She jumped up and looked around. 

"Skye?" she called out in a panic.

"Is that the boy's name?" said a small voice from the door.

"Where is he?" Kairi said with fear.

"He's in the next room. Isn't he a despair?"

"Not really… He changed, and he needs help!"

"Is he sick?"

"Yes, but only my friend can help him."

"Oh."

"Can I see him?" Kairi asked slightly impatiently.

"Yes! Right this way."

The little boy ran out of the room and Kairi followed. They ran into the next room and Kairi saw Skye, sitting up in the bed and once again, looking lifelessly ahead. Kairi ran up to him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry!" she said, meaning that she couldn't help him earlier.

Skye slowly reached his arms up and weakly hugged Kairi back. Kairi dropped her arms and so did Skye. Kairi turned and looked at the little boy who was still standing at the door. He was wearing black pants with dark blue strips down the side and a matching zip up shirt.

"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked.

"Oh! No, he's… uhhh…" Kairi tried to explain Skye's relation to Sora.

"He's a despair," came another voice.

An older girl had appeared in the doorway with her arms crossed. Like the door, she wore black pants only her dark blue strips were lined with silver and they were think at the top and thin at the bottom. Her jacket that was like that boy's but was short in length. She wore a tight fitting white tank top underneath the jacket.

"He is… But he's different! You see there's a three parts of a person-" Kairi hurried.

"I know, I know… The heart, the body and the soul," the girl said while crossing her arms.

"My… boyfriend, he lost his heart, but he came back and his heart and body have formed and this is his despair. Despair become lifeless when the heart and body reunite," Kairi explained.

"Hn. You're just lucky my little brother found you and not an official. You're also lucky that there's a corruption in the system too, or else I would've turned him in to the authorities without a second thought. They way things are now, people are rebelling against the system. And when I found you guys out cold in the barrens and he wasn't attacking, I figured there must be something more to this story, so I brought you two here to see what was going on."

Kairi sighed in relief.

"The Maker has been angry lately with the 3D program, so he closed it off to all of Gemity. Everyone's in an uproar because of it, so the government is cutting the funds to the 3D program."

"It sounds like a game," Kairi said.

"It is, but it's the only form of entertainment here. Here, we watch it, play in it, everything. It's all we have," the girl shrugged.

"You don't play games outside?" Kairi asked, thinking of playing blitzball and the sword fighting that they used to play on the island as kids.

"Well, some kids play catch or kick a ball around outside, but that's all really, because you can do all of that in the 3D world," the girl said.

"3D… As in Three- Dimensional?" Kairi asked.

"Yes," the girl said.

"Aren't we 3D?" Kairi asked trying to make sense of what the girl was telling her.

"This is a 4D world," the girl said, motioning to all around them.

Kairi looked around, trying to find a difference. The girl knew what she was thinking by the look on Kairi's face.

"There is no difference… Except 4D is more advanced."

"Oh," Kairi said, things were starting to make sense now.

"By the way, I'm Serenity and this is my little brother Jake and you are?" said Serenity motioning to herself and to the little boy beside her.

"I'm Kairi and this is Skye," said Kairi motioning to herself and to Skye.

"You're obviously not from this world. And you might want to get new clothes for him, with that jump suit he'll be recognized as a despair and be attacked on the spot. Possibly, killed because of the state he's in," Serenity said.

Kairi looked back at Skye and returned her gaze to Serenity and said, "I can't just leave him though…"

Serenity crossed her arms in thought and then said, "I'm heading over town to meet up with some friends. I'll pick up clothes for him while I'm over town. I'll make sure they're casual for you guys and not normal Gemity wear. One of my friends also works at a ship warehouse, so I may be able to get you a ship too, but you may have to wait a while. By the way, I need his size."

Kairi nodded and instantly knew what Skye's size was because of Sora. She told Serenity what size to get and then thanked here.

"I'm just lending a hand to someone who looks like they may make a different for our region of space," Serenity shrugged with a smile.

Kairi looked at Serenity with a confused look, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one you weld a keyblade. I tried to pick it up when I brought you two back here, but it disappeared, which means you're its chosen wielder. And secondly, Kairi, I know that your one of the princesses of heart."

Kairi gasped, "How do you know that?"

Serenity started to explain how she knew, "Well, not many people are named Kairi, and you're the only one that matches the age group that people talk about. Our world used to be great friends with Radiant Garden. But that was a long time ago after you were sent away to a different world and things started to get messy with the heartless, we went our separate ways because we couldn't help each other until helped ourselves."

"Oh…" Kairi sighed.

"Well, I better get going, or else I'll be late. I'll see you all later this evening. Jake remember to go to bed at your bedtime," Serenity warned.

"Ok, sis," Jake smiled at his sister.

Serenity waved and headed out the door. Jake turned to Kairi and asked, "Do you know how to play any games without the 3D program?"

Kairi smiled at the boy and said, "Yes. Here, I'll show you some games."

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**Author's Note:Well, there you have it. Please Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: The plot and any unfamiliar characters are mine. Everything else is not.

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**

Chapter 6

Damia, Damien and Peta sat eating breakfast while waiting for a lazy Sora. They expected him to be by now; anxious to go and find Kairi and that despair she's with, if they are even on this world.

There were four worlds surrounding Atlantis, three on one side and one on the other. There was more of a chance of Kairi landing on one of the worlds on this side. The only problem with one of the plants on this side was that no human being could survive there. It was just a wasteland, used for plants like Atlantis and Gemity to put wastes that'll rot away fast and be gone. Damia did a life signs check and there were none, and Damia didn't want to even think that they were already dead. Judging Sora's reaction from how he acted in the conference room on Balamb Garden, he probably wouldn't take the news well, so she didn't tell Sora about the planet. It was also a good thing it wasn't in sight.

Sora came into the room wearing his new clothes. He had on his black shoes that he had for traveling off the island. He had them since his last journey. He was wearing pants that looked like his long shorts from his last journey, so no leg was showing. He wore a white shirt with a black and red jacket. He wore a yellow belt to match the yellow on his shoes and red side pouches for his items and key chains.

Damien nodded and Damia said, "That look is benefiting on you."

Sora scratched behind his head and smiled before asking, "When do we leave."

Before Damia could answer, Peta jumped up and said with excitement, "As soon as possible!"

Damia nodded while smiling over at Damien who was smiling and shaking his head. Sora was merely blinking his eyes at the younger girl.

"Huh?" Sora said.

"Mom and Dad said I could show you to Bale. I promise I wont hold you guys back!" she said.

Sora scratched behind his head and looked over to his companions. Damien shrugged and Damia spoke.

"We gave the okay while you were still snoozing."

"Oh. Well then permission was granted," Sora smiled to the younger girl.

Peta grinned and ran into her room. Sora took a seat and started to eat the food that was on the table, while was bread, homemade butter, fresh milk, and cooked ham.

"It's all fresh. Shana wanted to make sure we were all full with good food before we took off," Damien said.

"Dart asked if Peta could come with us earlier too. She's wanted to see her grandmother for some time in Bale but with the little kids, it's hard to travel. She's a good swordsman and sharp with a bow and arrow, so we gave our okay before but Dart insisted that she asked you too because if one of us were uncomfortable then she couldn't go. We told him that we'd overrule you if you said no," Damia added.

Sora swallowed his food and said, "You guys make the calls anyways. I'm just along for the ride to lend a hand and to find Kairi."

"Hey, we're in this together. We all want to find Kairi and figure out the mystery of the despair she's said to be with," Damia said.

"And if anyone is just taking along for the ride then its me because I have to go right back to work after this. I can't stay away too long, you know," Damien said.

Sora looked up then sighed, "Thanks guys. With the accident and Kairi disappearing for our island, I feel… like a let down. I couldn't keep Donald and Goofy from harm when we were attacked and then I wasn't there to protect Kairi when she needed me there."

Damia punched his shoulder, not hard enough to hurt but to knock sense into him, "Hey, cheer up. It's not your fault. Donald and Goofy are going to be just fine, and we're going to find Kairi soon, you'll see."

Sora smiled at the thought of rescuing Kairi and being able to apologize.

Peta walked back into the room wearing brown pants, a red shirt and a matching brown jacket with a black strip around the cuffs. At her side was a broadsword.

"I'm ready," she announced.

Damia and Damien looked at Sora, who was currently chewing a mouth full of food.

"We're waiting on slow-poke here," Damien said, motioning to Sora.

Sora gulped down his mouth full, coughed and shouted, "Hey!"

His three companions laughed.

Soon enough, they found them selves walking through the forest just outside of Seles. Peta and Damia took the lead with Damien and Sora trailing behind.

"So, Sora. You and the princess are pretty close, huh?" Damien said in a teasingly way.

Sora felt his face get hot, "Ye-yeah, so?"

"Never heard of a keyblade master and a princess of heart get together before," Damien mused.

"Really?" Sora said, looking over at him.

"Well, as far back as the lessons in school take us… The keyblade masters were always the guardians. No one is sure, but most think it was because a relationship between a princess and a 'soldier' was forbidden."

"What?" Sora asked.

"Hey, no one's sure," Damien shrugged.

Sora sighed. He finally got back to Kairi only to find that such a relationship in the history of keyblade masters could be forbidden.

Damien looked over at Sora and was about to say something when a few fiends appeared. They looked like humans, but were really Mud men.

Sora was the first to respond. He whipped out the Ultima Weapon and rushed forward, slicing the Mud man in front of him in half. Behind him, he heard Peta call out her attack as she pulled it off.

"Double Slash!"

The Mud man that she attacked sunk to the ground and disappeared. The four looked at each other and were about to get on their way again when many despairs appeared.

"It's those creatures we've received word of!" Peta gasped.

"Despairs!" Damia hissed.

Sora tore through the three that were in front of him, knocking them all back. The black and purple colours on them swirled endlessly as they changed form from shadow looking to neo-shadow looking to many other from.

"They shape shift?" Sora shouted as he hit a despair that attempted to jump on him.

"Get used to it," Damien shouted back.

Sora ran forward and did a full 360 swing, cutting down the four that he had been attacking. He turned around to see a despair creeping up behind Peta as she was fighting a different one. Sora ran forward and stabbed the despair in the side just Peta cut the one she had been fighting down.

"Watch yourself, 'kay?" Sora said.

Peta nodded and they took off in different directions. Sora saw another group materializing and he ran to it. He jumped into the air, did a back flip and stabbed his Keyblade right into the ground in the middle of the group. He felt his body twist, as if he was unlocking the ground. As he flipped back up, a bright light burst from the ground around the despairs and stunned them all. They remained immobilized as Sora was in the air. He swung his Keyblade in his right hand to his left side and it started to glow. He swung back to the right and the glow became a long blade and flew through the despairs, destroying in them all. Sora flipped back down and landed on a bent left knee with his right extended beside him. For balance, his left hand was on the ground and he had his keyblade extended right over his leg. He looked over his shoulder to see the entire group cleared.

"Sora! That was amazing!" came Peta's voice.

Sora stood up and looked at Peta, Damien and Damia walk over to him, all the despairs had been cleared out.

"That light, it immobilized all the despairs long enough so that we could get rid of them," Damia said.

"I don't know exactly what I did, it just felt like the thing I ought to do," Sora shrugged.

"Yeah well, keep that feeling with you," Damien started as they all turned and started walking, Peta and Damia taking the lead, then Damien and then Sora.

Damien stopped and waited for Sora. Damien watched Damia's back as she kept walking away.

"Keep being a Keyblade Master and don't become a soldier. Fight for what you believe. You want to be with Princess Kairi. Well, we, as a new generation of Keyblade Masters can make our own history. You want Kairi, then be with her and forget about what the others did or didn't do back then. This is our age," Damien said, still staring at Damia.

Sora's mouth make an 'o' shape as he looked at Damien, surprised that he went so deep. Damien took no notice and started walking. Sora turned around and looked up into the shining sun.

'Kairi…'

"Hey, Sora! Hurry up! We'd like to pass through Limestone Cave before dark!" Peta joked.

Sora turned and flashed his trademark grin before running to catch up with his friends.

"Daydreaming about a girl back home?" Peta smirked.

Sora scratched behind head and grinned, "So what if I was? That's for me to know."

Damien smirked behind the girls and crossed his arms. Sora put his hands behind his head and said, "Well, let's get moving. We want to be at Limestone cave before dark right?"

The group nodded and started off again, leaving the forest and onto a dirt path in a middle of a field. Sora, Damien and Damia looked around in awe at the sight.

As Sora was doing a 360 turn, taking in all of the view, he spotted something in the distance. It looked like a large rock on the shoreline, but upon looking closer you could see the makeshift windows here and there and the drawbridge door at the bottom.

Sora looked back at Peta and asked, "Hey, Peta. What's that building over there?"

Peta walked up beside him and Damien and Damia came up behind them curiously.

"Oh, that was Hellena Prison once upon a time. Mom was held captive there she was 18 and my Dad was 23. My Dad went and saved her and that's what started their journey to save the world back then. But its been closed ever since. People say that only monsters live in there now."

"Really?" Sora asked.

"People say that they saw their shadows in those holes around the top. Someone even said he saw a person standing on the top. But you can't really believe any of those stories because King Albert has guards standing at the start of the pathway to go there. You can't get any closer other than that," Peta shrugged.

"We're going to see King Albert, right?" Damia asked.

"Yes. I can get you guys in there easily. King Albert and my dad are long-time friends. King Albert journeyed with my mom and dad back then."

Sora looked back over at the old prison and squinted at it with his hand over his eyes to get a better look at the place. He didn't notice his three companions turn to leave.

Something black passed through the window. Sora blinked an shook his head and looked again to see something pass back.

"Sora! Lets go!" shouted Damia a little ways away.

Sora took once last look at the prison and didn't see anything. He shook his head and turned to catch up with the others. Peta looked at them all and said, "Limestone Cave is just over that hill. It doesn't take very long to get through so as soon as we get through we can eat something then finish walking to Bale. We can stay at Grandma's for the night since it'll be late and then we can see the King in the morning."

"Sounds like a plan," said Damien as they all turned to walk up the hill.

It wasn't an incredibly high hill, half way to the top, Sora took off in a run to the top. Peta ran after him. The two were soon at the top and were soon joined by Damien and Damia. Sora looked at the stone cave in awe. Damien smirked at the two teens in front of him and said, "Race ya!" as he took off in front of them.

The rest of the group followed behind and met Damien at the entrance of the cave.

Water dripped around the entrance and water could easily be heard inside the cave.

"The water from for north of Serdio to south of Serdio through this cave," said Peta.

The group entered the cave and saw the water flow. Sora, Damia and Damien wondered how they would cross the water until Peta jumped down onto a stepping stone and started to jump across. Sora went next and then the other two came and they walked further into the cave.

They came to an area in the cave where there was a large space in what seemed to be the lowest spot of the cave that had a small stream flowed through it. Peta suddenly stopped and looked around.

"There's something here," she hissed.

Sure enough, a snakelike despair slithered part way out of a hole and hissed at the group. Sora suddenly felt drained of happiness, and from the looked on his companions faces, they did too.

"What's happening?" asked Sora as he tried to think happy thoughts. He could suddenly see the darkness flowing through the cave.

**_"Come on, Sora. We're better than this! Sora? Sora!" Roxas shouted inside Sora's mind._**

Sora could faintly hear Roxas' cries and knew that he was feeling this too. Sora stared at the creature wearily. Faintly, he could hear Peta crying out in agony while holding her head. Damia screamed, "Go away!" over and over again while swatting at the air in front of her and Damien was growling, trying to stay standing, trying to fight the torture that the creature was bestowing on them all.

"_What are we suppose to do?"_ Sora asked no one in particular.

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**Author's Note: Thanks to everyone that reviewed! So what do you think? I was going to end it when Sora saw the dark creatures in the distance but then I decided not to. Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns it all! I just own what I made.**

**Thanks for the reviews! The more support the better!

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**

Chapter 7

Kairi sat a chair in the corner of Skye's room. It had been a long time since she had sent an unwilling Jake to bed. He was having a blast playing the games that Kairi had taught him.

She trusted Serenity and her little brother, she felt like she needed to watch over Skye. Skye was a part of Sora and she loved Sora. Also, after the way she treated Sora when he had to leave again, she felt like she owed it to him.

Even for Roxas, Kairi cared about him too. It was because of Namine's thoughts and feeling for him that Kairi felt that way. For Skye, it was Rachael's thoughts and feelings for him.

Kairi sighed and slouched forward.

"I wonder where Sora is right now. Does he even know I'm not on the island anymore? If he does, then is he looking for me too?" Kairi said to herself.

She heard the click of the front door opening and walked over to make sure it was Serenity. It was, and she carried a bag in one hand and some papers in the other. Serenity looked up to see Kairi peering out the door of Skye's room and immediately walked over.

"Jake was good right?" she asked.

"Yeah. I taught him some games he could play and he almost didn't want to go to bed," Kairi laughed.

"Oh, thanks. And here's the clothes I picked up and I talked to my friend about a ship. He said it would be done tomorrow. Apparently the owner is making the authorities check out all the homes tomorrow for anything that could be used against him in an uprising. Which means that as soon as that ship is ready, you need to take your friend and go," Serenity said.

"Your world needs help, Serenity! The owner is taking over your government!" Kairi said.

"Look, Kairi, as a Princess of Heart and a Keyblade Master, you of all people should know that you can't interfere with the affairs of other worlds, it would be meddling."

"I'm not a master…" Kairi mumbled.

"If that keyblade hasn't left you yet, then you're its chosen wielder. You're going to be a wielder whether you want to or not," Serenity said.

"How do you know all this?" Kairi asked.

"Everyone around here knows about the Keyblade Masters," Serenity said.

"Oh…"

Serenity gave the bag of clothes to Kairi, "You should get some sleep. I have an intruder alarm that only I can deactivate so no one's coming in tonight."

Kairi nodded, "Thank you. You've been so nice to us."

"Like I said, I'm lending a hand to someone who looks like they may make a different for our region of space."

Kairi smiled and nodded. Serenity turned and left for her room leaving Kairi standing in Skye's doorway with a bag of clothes for him. She turned and left the bag on the chair that she was using before and then retired to her own bed for the night. While she slept, she dreamt.

Five-year-old Kairi opened her eyes and peered around the room. There was an older man sitting at a desk, going through papers.

"Mmmm," Kairi moaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh! You're awake!" the man said before shuffling over.

"Where's Gramma?" Kairi asked.

"_She's not here… What's your name?" the man asked._

"_I'm Kairi," she said, looking up at the man._

"_Well, Kairi. Do you know who brought you here?" the man asked._

_Kairi looked up and gave him a confused look._

"_You don't remember?" he said after. Kairi shook her head._

"_He said you're a very special little girl that needed to be taken care of," the man said._

"_Who are you? Where's Gramma," Kairi asked, her bottom lip quivering._

"_I'm the mayor of this island, Kairi. You just got here. You're grandma is probably at home."_

_Tears started rolling down Kairi's delicate cheeks as she folded her hands neatly on her lap and looked at them._

"_I want to go home!" Kairi declared._

"_That man said you needed to stay here, Kairi…"_

_Kairi looked up and put her fists to her eyes and started brushing at her tears as she cried and curled up on the couch she was on. The mayor, looking torn, pulled Kairi into a hug and rocked her back and forth until she fell asleep._

Kairi woke up saw that the sun was shining outside. She sat up and ran a hand through her auburn locks and thought about her dream.

'_That was a long time ago…' _Kairi thought.

Kairi got up from the bed and smoothed out her clothes before proceeding to the washroom to freshen up. She exited a few moments later and immediately walked to Skye's room.

Skye was sitting on the bed, wearing his new clothes. He was wearing long, black and red shorts, a black t-shirt and a red, black and white short-sleeved hooded jacket and his normal big black shoes. Kairi wondered if he dressed himself or is he had help.

"Morning, Skye," Kairi greeted.

Skye's hand moved and slightly waved before falling back to where it was. Kairi sighed and before she could say anything, Serenity walked up behind her.

"Morning, Kairi. Just coming to say that breakfast is served," Serenity said before turning away.

"Did someone help him get dressed?" Kairi turned and asked.

"That would've been me. The names' Cliff," said a tall blond man with three green rings around his neck.

Kairi smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Cliff."

Cliff waved a hand in front of his face and said, "Don't mention it. When Serenity said that despair was practically a shell, she meant it. Name is Skye, right? I hope you know what you're doing with him."

"He's my boyfriend's despair. I'm looking for him," Kairi said while looking over he shoulder at the boy on the bed.

"Anyways. I worked on that ship for you all night because of that kid and the search that they're going to do today. It's all ready for you at the spaceport."

"Thank you so much!" Kairi said.

"State of the art craft that is, a Klausian special," Cliff said proudly.

"Klausian?" Kairi asked.

"Klaus is a neighbouring city. We are gifted with ship making. We put that Twilight Savoir in space, same with Balamb Garden."

"Are they mother ships?" Kairi asked, remembering the leader of Atlantis talking about the mother ships.

"Sure are! I worked on the Twilight Savoir for a year. Now that was an experience," Cliff said while crossing his arms and looking up at the ceiling.

Serenity leaned over to Kairi and whispered, "He can't get over the fact of how big it is."

"How big is it?" Kairi asked.

"It only housed 5000 crew and family members!" Cliff said with excitement.

Kairi gaped. How did that many people fit on a ship?

"So, Cliff, anything else you were working on other than Kairi's ship?" Serenity asked.

"I'm being assigned to work on The Holy Empire. It's going to be done in a few weeks. It's going to be the mother of all ships!"

"Who comes up with these names?" Serenity asked.

"The head honchos, that's who," Cliff said sighing.

"Well, how about we go and eat, I'm sure breakfast isn't so hot right now," Serenity laughed and took off into the kitchen.

Kairi turned and looked at Skye and said, "Come on Skye! Let's eat!"

Skye weakly got up from the bed and walked up to Kairi and they walked to the kitchen. Serenity stood at the window and shouted outside to Jake, who was playing tag with some other kids, "Come on, Jake. It's breakfast!"

Serenity pulled breakfast out of a zap oven and sat it on the table before taking a seat between Cliff and Kairi. Kairi gave Skye some of the bacon and toast, so that it would be easier for him to eat. Jake ran in laughing a few moments later and sat down beside Skye.

"Morning, Skye! Morning, Kairi! Hey, Cliff!"

Kairi and Cliff greeted him back while Skye weakly lifted his arm and waved and then went back to eating his bacon.

Kairi silently chewed on her bacon and thought about what to do next. She didn't know about any other worlds except the one she lived on, Radiant Garden, and all the ones from Sora's stories.

Kairi looked up from her plate and said, "I don't know where to start looking for Sora."

Serenity and Cliff looked at each other and then back at Kairi.

"You can pilot… right?" Cliff asked.

"Well… yeah," Kairi said, thinking of Rachael.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. There's a navigational map that shows all the worlds that we know of. Just go wherever you feel like it," Cliff said.

Kairi nodded and went back to eating. Soon the group was done and they all started walking outside to go to the spaceport.

Jake walked in circles around Skye, chatting happily to the teen, not once thinking that Skye didn't know what he was talking about. Kairi looked over at the duo and saw a faint smile on Skye's face. Kairi smiled to herself and continued walking.

Suddenly, the city's alarms went off and a mechanical voice shouted, _"Attention population of Gemity. We are going into lock down. Please remain in your homes or in the nearest building. I repeat…"_

Serenity ran and grabbed Jake's hand and shouted, "Run!"

Kairi grabbed Skye's hand and the group ran the rest of the way to the spaceport, which wasn't far now. Cliff immediately led them to a slick, black and silver ship. They could hear the alarms and the mechanical voice, repeating over and over. The gates were closed, for the moment.

Jake sat still beside the computer that Cliff was at. Serenity helped Kairi take Skye into the ship and to a chair in the cockpit then ran back to the entrance. A vibration rocked the building, knocking the two girls over. They both looked up to see a hand push Jake into the ship and then the door started to close. Serenity ran to the door and looked at Cliff.

"But, why?" she demanded.

"I didn't tell you everything that was going to happen during this lock-down. Everyone in Gemity is going to be held under house arrest until everyone fears the owner. Just get out of here and stay away from this world for a while. I'll be fine, trust me," Cliff shouted as the gates to the spaceport opened.

"I'm going to hit you so hard when I do come back, Cliff that even those Klausian genes you have will be trembling at my strength!" Serenity shouted at him.

"I will welcome that day," Cliff said at the door to the ship closed.

Serenity huffed and turned to Kairi, "Get us out of here!"

Kairi nodded and ran back to the cockpit. Skye had his hand over his ears.

Rachael took over and started firing up the ship and took off as the gate closed. A smaller transport shuttle flew out behind them.

Serenity and Jake walked in and sat in other seats. Serenity looked longingly back and then faced forward again.

"So this is the reason why he was working on this ship," she whispered.

"Huh?" Kairi asked.

Serenity looked over at Kairi and wondered how she was piloting the ship with her hands at her sided and asked, "How are you piloting like that?"

Kairi looked at the transparent image of Rachael in front of her and realized that no one else could see her.

"Ummm… It's my despair piloting. You can't see her though, I guess.

Serenity eyed her weirdly and looked out the window.

"What did you say before?" Kairi asked.

"Cliff knew this day would come. You coming was the perfect excuse for all this," Serenity said.

"Cliff cares about you. This must be big if he wanted to get you out before it all started," Kairi stated, while watching Rachael work, trying to figure out what controls were what.

"_**Entering warp space," Rachael said.**_

The ship entered warp space, thus ending the conversation.

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**Author's Note: Well, not the cliffhanger like the last chapter was and it wasn't what I thought it would be… But oh well. What did you think about it? Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Same ol' song guys, I own the plot and some of the characters, nothing else.

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Chapter 8**

Sora felt like he was choking on darkness because there was so much of it. Darkness.

"_Falling…" _

Sora blinked but noticed no difference between having his eyes closed and having them open.

"_Come on, Sora…" sounded Riku's voice._

Sora thought furiously. He feared the darkness taking over everything, failing to save everyone. Failing to save Kairi.

"_Falling… into darkness."_

Sora got up, and despite the darkness, he could see the snake-like figure of the despair. The despair was playing on their greatest fears, making them live it or re-live it…

"NO! STOP! PLEASE!" screamed Damia.

Sora summoned his Ultima Weapon and decided to manipulate the darkness to his own needs. He needed to overcome his own fears to save himself, and everyone else.

Damien summoned his keyblade and blindly wiped it through the air, trying to bash his unforeseen enemy away, obviously to no avail.

"Damien! It's not really there!" Sora shouted.

Damien looked Sora's way. His eyes widened and his keyblade started to glow. Sora knew he was going to attack whatever he was seeing, only thing was the 'creature' seemed to be standing right in between himself and Sora.

Sora ran forward and grabbed Damien by the collar.

"Pull it together! It's not really there! Just ignore it and help me save Damia and Peta," Sora said.

"Damia…"

As if on cue, Damia let out and ear piercing scream. Damien shook off Sora's grip and ran to Damia, ignoring the invisible monster that was lurking around him. Sora turned around and saw Peta, curled up on a ball and crying, looking at something about ten feet away, that only she could see.

"Peta…" Sora said as he slide to her side.'

"I-I fai-failed… They're g-gone! Mom… Dad… H-How c-could I l-let this h-happen?" Peta screamed into her knees.

"Peta, look at me! They're not really there! The despair is making you see them like that. It hasn't happened. It's not going to happen. Peta if we defeat that despair, then it'll all go away," Sora reasoned.

"But I can see them!"

"Everyone can see something different! Trust me, Peta. If we kill this thing, we won't see it anymore."

Peta nodded and stood up. The other two Keyblade Masters soon joined them.

"The sooner we kill this thing, the soon that… thing… will stop flying around my head," Damien mumbled while gasping and ducking from 'it'.

They all drew their weapons and ran for the snake-shaped despair. Damien jumped into the air, doing a front-flip and brought his keyblade down, hard, on the snake's head. Damia sidestepped the snake and slammed it hard into its side. It hissed and started for Damia. Peta ran towards the tongue that was going for Damia, and cut it off. The snake whipped his head away, throwing Damien off and into the rocks.

Sora ran in front of it and dodged its head, lashing about with agony. Sora swung his keyblade up, over his head and held it with both hands. It started to glow and Sora aimed it at the snake and blasting it with the light. The snake threw its head back again, this time, Sora, Damien and Damia gathered and held their Keyblades together and pointed it at the snake.

"FIRST LIGHT!" they all shouted.

The snake began to shudder, causing the whole cave to vibrate. It was losing form and rocks were falling from the top of the cave.

"It's going to collapse!" Peta shouted and led the group through the spiraling trail, leading out of the cave.

They got out, just as the cave collapse, leaving sand and dust. Water could be heard clearly now. The group looked back to see the cave had became a stream, surrounded by rocks.

"King Albert is going to have to make a bridge for that…" Peta mumbled.

"I have never seen a despair like that before…" Damia shuddered, still obviously spooked.

"It was playing on our greatest fears, making us live them so that we lose our strength," Damien said.

Damia stood up and shook her head, "Let's just forget about this and keep going."

Damia stalked off without another word, leaving everyone no choice but to follow. It was dusk anyways and they all just wanted to get inside a house and feel safe from their fears for the night.

It was getting dark and they were starting to see the lights from the city of Bale. Peta took off running for the city gates.

"Come on!" Peta shouted, making the other three run after her.

Peta ran through the gates and through the city to the furthermost circle of homes where Lavitz's mother, her adoptive grandmother lives.

Peta pushed open the door and said, "Grandma! I'm here with guests!"

Peta stopped, realizing that her grandmother wasn't alone in the sitting room. King Albert was sitting across from her grandmother with a cup of tea.

Peta dropped to her knee, "King Albert!"

Albert stood up and said, "Please stand, Peta. You're an honoured guest as your father is a cherished friend. Stand, please!"

Peta stood just as Sora, Damien and Damia walked in.

"You said you brought guests! You must introduce us!"

"Grandma, King Albert, these are Sora, Damien and Damia, they are Keyblade Masters."

King Albert perked up at this, "Keyblade Masters, you say?"

"Yes, they've come to help us fight the despairs!"

"Despairs… Those black and purple creatures?"

"Yes!"

"Truly a gift of the Sun God. Please come to the castle first thing in the morning. Tell me everything!"

"Yes, your majesty…"

"Please don't call me that, you are the daughter of Dart Feld and good friend."

"Yes, Ki-… I mean… Albert."

"I shall depart. I will see you all in the morning. Good evening, my-lady."

And King Albert and his guard left the house for the castle.

Peta turned to the elderly woman and shouted, "Grandma!"

"Peta! Oh my you've grown so much! Starting to look like your beautiful mother, you are."

Peta flushed and then her grandmother ushered them all to rooms, Peta and Sora to the two couches and Damien and Damia to Lavitz's old room, which she still kept dusted and the bed clean. They all retired to sleep and hoped that events from earlier wouldn't plague their dreams.

Sora awoke and got up from the couch. He immediately noticed that Peta was already up and he was hearing multiple voices in the kitchen. So he pulled his short black and red jacket on over his white shirt and walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, lazy. Most of the day goes to waiting for you to wake up," Damien snorted.

Sora stretched his arms over his head with a smile that made his companions laugh.

"Okay, dears, the king himself is expecting you. Do visit more often though kids. Send your parents my love wont you, Peta?"

"Of course I will, Grandma. Take care of yourself."

"Oh and take some jerky! Can you believe that both me and my neighbor made too much?"

"Of course I will, Grandma. Thank you."

Grandma got the jerky from her cupboard and put some in four bags and gave one to each of her four guests.

"Best not to keep the King waiting."

"Bye, Grandma!" Peta said as she stood.

"Take care, Ma'am," Sora, Damien and Damia chorused as they all took their bags of jerky and followed Peta from the house.

"So, we tell the King _everything_ we know, and in turn, he'll tell us what the knows about the despair."

"We know he's not half-dead like that Skye character that's hanging around with Sora's girlfriend."

Sora immediately flushed, thinking about Kairi.

"_Did you find them?"_

Sora stopped and motioned everyone else to stop and listen, they all did so and Sora began to follow the voice.

"_No, but I had some kid looking for them right now. Shady kid, kinda creepy."_

"_Yeah, like you."_

"_Shut up, I'm not the one harassing a king. I would've just threatened the entire world and I then made them bow to my power."_

"_You're sadistic, Badger."_

"_That's funny coming from you."_

Sora found the source of where the voices were coming from and jumped around the corner to attack them and saw nothing.

"You guys heard those voices, right?" Sora asked his companions.

They all nodded, holding onto their weapons and then lowering them.

"Well, there's no sense staying here, so let's hurry up to the castle," Damia said, turning to look off towards the largest building in the city, the castle.

Nothing was out of the ordinary for the rest of their short walk to the castle. The guards recognized Peta immediately and let her pass, but kept watch on Sora, Damia and Damien because they had never seen them before.

The group walked up the stairs and into the throne room. King Albert immediately got up and walked to the railing and looked down on them. Peta, out of respect, she dropped to her knee and bowed. Damia, Damien and lastly, Sora followed her.

"No, please stand!" Albert said and hurried down the stairs to be level with them.

Sora and his companions stood and faced the King. He walked straight past and onto the balcony.

"So tell me what you know about the Despairs," the King said.

"A despair is the third part of a person who has lost their heart. The other two parts are the heart and body. Despairs can take different forms, depending on the strength of their heart," Damia started.

"We believe there are about 13, since the Nobody Organization only had 13 members, but we could be mistaken," Damien continued.

Sora perked up and added his bit, "Oh, when the heart and the body reform, then the soul, or the despair, become lifeless. Like, half-dead."

King looked between the three and said, "Well this one certainly isn't half-dead. He comes to the castle every week, sometimes a few nights in a row and he would speak of the land and say all of the awful things he has done to innocent citizens of Serdio. He wiped out my entire 7th and 8th knighthood, and more of those creatures seem to be swarming around. Have my men really become those creatures?"

"…I'm sorry, King Albert," Damia said quietly.

Albert spun around and leaned on the railing, "I'm fighting against my own men, who have become creatures. Those Despairs are really sick people."

Sora jumped forward, "It's not your fault, Your Highness! The only thing you can do about it is to fight directly against the one that's controlling the despairs. That's why we're here. We plan to get rid of the Despair."

Albert looked back at the spiky-haired teen, "You would do that?"

Sora pounded his chest and smiled with a nod, making the King feel a lot better.

"My troops have reported that everyone in the city surrounding the Black Castle are gone and that the place is over run by Despairs, I believe that whoever is controlling them, is inside the castle."

"Thank you, You Majesty!" Peta said with a quick bow and turned to Sora, Damia and Damien and said, "Let's hurry!"

Sora nodded and turned to the King, "Thank you, your Highness. We're going to get rid of this despair!"

"Thank you, and please be careful," the King said.

The group ran from the balcony and out of the castle. They hurried from the city and stopped to rest at the crossroads.

"Why did we run all the way here?" asked Sora.

"I kept running because you kept running," Peta said.

"I kept running because you kept running!" Sora protested.

Damia and Damien looked at each other and shook their heads.

"So how do we get to the Black Castle? We didn't exactly leave the cave in one piece…" Damien said, looking over in the direction of the cave.

"We go to Lohan. And from there, we go to the Black Castle," Peta said.

"How about those voices in that alleyway? Do you think they're Despairs?" Sora asked.

They all looked at Sora and thought about the possibility before Damien said, "It's very likely, lot's of people have said that they heard weird voices and they could never find the source."

Sora nodded and said, "Let's get going then!"

His companions nodded and they all started walking to Lohan.

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay so I'll probably be doing this world in 3 chapters rather than my prediction of two chapters. I think the third part of this world will be interesting because of the "kid" that the strange voices (Badger and the other guy) have looking for something. Please review and tell me how I'm doing and how you think this story is going! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Nope, nothing is mine except the plot and some characters I added.**

**------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 9

Kairi spotted a planet in the distance with a colony in orbit. She was piloting after a basic lesson from Rachael because Serenity found it creepy that all the controls were moving without Kairi touching them.

The name of the planet turned up on the screen in front of Kairi, it was called Second Miltia.

"Oh! I've heard of that place, they supply the mother ships with Androids and Realian!" Serenity said as she walked into the cockpit and sat in a chair behind Kairi.

Kairi had never heard of Androids or Realians before, so she had to ask, "What are Androids and Realians?"

Serenity gave her a look that clearly said 'you don't know?' but answered, "Androids are robots that look like humans but are incredibly strong and can summon up weapons that they are programmed with."

"Oh…" Kairi understood the androids, but what about, "Realians?"

"Realians are human-like but they are mass-produced with certain capabilities. Some specialize with military combat, some are used in mother ships as deck crew, you know, to run the computers and make sure everything is functioning alright."

"I see," Kairi said as they came up to the planet.

The computer consol next to Serenity beeped and she looked over and read what was on the screen.

"Kairi, they're requesting the names of everyone on board and name of the ship…"

Kairi turned to Serenity and said, "We don't have a name for our ship…"

Serenity looked around and found a plate over the exit from the cockpit and it read: 'FLOATING KINGDOM'.

"Floating Kingdom! It's on the plaque over the door!" Serenity said as she turned the consol and filled out the landing request form on the screen.

'_Ship Name: Floating Kingdom_

_Pilot: Kairi_

_Co-Pilot: Serenity_

_Number of Passengers: 2'_

"There, done!" Serenity said as she sent the form back.

A voice boomed over the COM, _"Welcome, Floating Kingdom. A shuttle is on its way to escort you to the assigned landing bay. Please wait."_

Kairi got into orbit and waited for the shuttle to come and escort them. It wasn't long before a cream coloured ship came, flew around them and said over the COM, _"Follow us."_

Kairi did so, and followed the cream-coloured ship to the planet. It led her to a docking bay, which she carefully landed in, listening to Rachael's tips to land. Once the landing gear was stably on the on the ground, Kairi turned off the ship and got up, followed by Serenity.

"Jake! Come on!" Serenity shouted.

"Skye?" Kairi called after.

Jake came out, followed by Skye, who was being led by hand by Jake.

"You woke Skye up, Serenity!" Jake said.

Serenity just shook her head while Kairi said to Jake, "We're sorry, but we're getting off," then turned to Skye and asked, "How was your nap?"

Skye merely nodded. Kairi sighed but she knew he has been improving since she started interacting with him. She took Skye's hand instead of Jake and followed Serenity and Jake out of the ship, where another pilot met them.

"Welcome to Second Miltia. I was the guy in the escort shuttle. This is landing bay number 3, for when you want to take off. Just be careful, there are some shady figures lurking around so you might not want to be outside after dark. You're welcome to sleep in the inns or if you prefer the cabins in your ship then be our guests. There are shuttles that can fly you up to the Kukai Foundation if you want to look around up there too. Enjoy your stay in Second Miltia," and he turned to leave.

"Well… That was… short," Serenity said as they started following the sign that said 'EXIT'.

They walked outside to see the beautiful sun and blue sky gleaming on the tall, white buildings.

"Oh wow…" they all awed, with the exception of Skye, who merely stood there.

Out of excitement, Jake took off running into the street. Serenity started chasing after him and shouting.

"Jake! Stop!"

Kairi started after them, with Skye in tow. They soon caught up to the near a poster, Serenity was looking at it intensely while holding onto an annoyed Jake's wrist.

"Kairi! Vector is holding a tour of the labs today! I've always wanted to see them!" Serenity squealed, not even turning around.

Kairi raised an eyebrow, "You know, people might've thought you were crazy if we didn't follow you two."

Serenity turned around with a questioning look, which Kairi answered with, "Skye and I just found you guys here."

"Oh…"

Serenity looked around and then back at the poster and back to Kairi and asked, "Can we still go?"

Kairi smiled and said, "Sure."

Serenity let go of Jake's hand and examined the poster for the address and the time and announced that it was starting at 1900 hours and then looked around for a clock. She found one at the top of a weather sign and it read 1334.

"Five and a half hours… What should we do until them?" Serenity asked.

"We should explore!" Jake exclaimed.

Kairi thought for a moment before her stomach decided to answer.

"Alright, a late lunch it is," Serenity said before looking around.

Kairi also looked and spotted a sign that stuck out like a sore thumb against the whiteness of the city. It was wooden and said 'Moby Dicks' on the sign.

"Look, Moby Dicks. It sounds like a restaurant," Kairi suggested.

"Then let's go!" Jake said before running off for the restaurant.

They all ran in after them to see that it really was a restaurant. They found a booth and they all sat in it. Soon enough, a waiter came around and handed out menus.

"Welcome to Moby Dick's, can I get you anything to drink?"

Jake perked up from his seat and said, "Chocolate Milk, please!"

"What kind of milk?"

Jake gave the waiter a weird look. Serenity furrowed her brows and looked at the back of the menu for the drinks and realized what he was talking about.

"Oh! Chocolate Nerf Milk," she said, trying to figure out how one planet can have so many different kinds of milk. Gemity only had two kinds and nerf was the cheapest.

The waiter took it down and waited for the other orders.

Kairi ordered for both herself and Skye, "Water is fine for the two of us, thanks."

Serenity looked back up at the waiter and said, "Same, please."

The waiter bowed and took off behind the bar.

Serenity leaned over the table and whispered, "This place really sticks over in this place huh?"

"I like it, it would be a nice place for people could go for dinner and get something new," Kairi said while looking at the menu.

"**_Hey, Kairi!" _**Rachael started.

'_Hmm?'_

"_**There's Curry here! It's really good and Skye likes chicken flavored curry."**_

'_Really?'_

"_**Yeah!"**_

'_Okay.'_

The waiter came back around with the drinks and handed them all out before taking out his notepad and asking, "Are you ready to order?"

Serenity looked over at Jake and he nodded enthusiastically and said, "Can I have Rice Balls and Fish Sticks, please?"

"Sure thing, kiddo."

Serenity looked back at her menu and said, "Can I have today's special, please?"

The waiter nodded and wrote it down before looking at Kairi.

"Can we get two orders of Chicken Curry, please?"

"Sure thing, coming right up," the waiter said as he took the orders to the kitchen.

Kairi automatically thought about money, and realized that she didn't know what kind of money was used around here because all she had with her was some munny.

"Um, Serenity. What kind of cash do they accept here?" Kairi nervously asked, thinking it's probably a stupid question to ask around here.

"Same thing everywhere else; munny. Nobody is creative enough to break off from the old currency," Serenity said simply.

Kairi nodded and all went quiet until their orders came. Skye picked and ate at his food with his usual blank look, and Jake half played-half ate his food while Serenity and Kairi ate their food like any normal person would. Towards the end of the meal, they began discussing their plan of action.

"Well, after that tour of Vector, we can turn in for the night at the ship and then tomorrow we can head up to the Kukai Foundation," Serenity said.

"The Kukai Foundation?" Kairi asked.

"Oh, it's a colony that's floating around this planet. We didn't see it earlier because it was probably around the other side of the plant. A mothership called the Durandal comes from there."

"Okay, sounds like fun!" Kairi said.

Serenity smiled and ate the last few bites of food on her plate before pushing it away and pulling what was left of her drink closer to her. Kairi soon followed suit.

Once the girls were completely done, they looked at the boys. Serenity could tell Jake was full because he was silently picking at his meal. Skye was finished and was just sitting there.

"I guess we're ready to go then…" Kairi said slowly.

As if on cue, the waited came with their check and the girls split the check and the tip before taking off from Moby Dick's.

"Well, we still have lots of time. What do you want to do, Serenity?" Kairi asked upon looking at the large digital clock on the side of the building beside them.

Jake was the one that spoke up.

"Can we go to a park?"

The girls smiled and nodded to him and they went in search of a park. They soon found themselves near a forest with no sign of a park.

"Hey, look! There's a directional sign!" Kairi said while running over to it.

Skye automatically followed and Serenity joined with Jake tagging along behind. Jake suddenly stopped and looked around. His gaze stopped on a trail into the forest and he turned and walked into the forest. Skye was looking in that direction and started poked at Kairi's side.

"Skye?" Kairi said looking at him.

Serenity looked at him too and then looked around and noticed that Jake wasn't there.

"Jake?" she called.

"Ja...ke…" Skye started to mumble.

Kairi looked at Skye closely and said, "He's trying to say something."

"Ja…ke… trail…"

Serenity started walking down the path and saw the trail that Skye must've been talking about. Kairi and Skye joined her and they all walked down the trail. It led to a clearing where they saw Jake standing in the middle.

"Jake!" Serenity called to him.

Jake jumped and turned to look at his sister in confusion.

"How did I get here?" he asked.

Suddenly, a large Despair emerged from the forest in the form of a demented creature. Jake ran to his sister and the girls jumped in front of the boys with Kairi holding her Keyblade and Serenity holding up her blaster.

Kairi ran forward and began attacking it while Serenity shot at it while protecting her little brother and Skye.

Kairi mind started to feel numb and her vision was turning white. Then a figure formed in front of her whom she recognized immediately.

"Selphie?"

'Selphie' grinned madly and started to laugh evilly.

"Nobody likes you, Kairi," she said simply.

"What?" Kairi said, confused.

"Everybody hates you. Why bother fighting when you have nothing to return to."

"That's not true!" Kairi said shaking her vision back and continuing to attack the monster.

The monster continued to throw those kinds of images into her mind and she continued to fight them off. The monster whacked her away and before she started to attack it again, she saw something coming at her from behind. She turned to see Serenity shooting at her and a beam was rapidly going for her head.

Kairi was too scared to move. She squeezed her eyes shut and began to think of a prayer when she heard something rebound. She carefully opened her eyes and saw a shield disappear from around her. She looked around to see Skye collapse to his knees and then to a sitting position on the ground. Kairi noticed a blank look in both Serenity and Jake's eyes and they were now advancing on her.

Kairi ran to Skye and sat there beside him with her Keyblade tightly clutched in her hand.

Serenity stopped just short of reaching them and pointed her blaster at Kairi's head again. This time, Skye was too weak to create a protective shield and was panting in exhaustion on Kairi's shoulder.

Kairi watched Serenity's eyes carefully and noted how she couldn't see her pupils. Just as Kairi thought she was going to die, Serenity shuddered and lowered her weapon in confusion, with her pupils coming back into view.

"Are you alright?"

The girls, Skye and Jake all looked at a man with orangey-red hair and yellow eyes wearing a gray jump suit that was standing where the Despair was standing moments before. He was holding a short red blade that retracted into its handle.

"Now we are, thank you," Serenity said in shock.

Kairi leaned on Skye for support and dismissed her Keyblade. She used her key hand to cover her heart and willed it to slow down. A hand appeared in her vision and she looked up to she the man holding out his hands for Kairi and Skye to help them up.

"I am Canaan," he said shortly.

Serenity looked at him closely and then said with excitement, "You're a Realian!"

"Yes, I work for Representative Helmer on this planet," Canaan said.

"We're just visiting…" Kairi said quietly.

Canaan motioned for them all to follow and he lead them back to the main trail while saying "Lately, these Despairs have been showing up and taking over the minds of innocent people. It's hard to keep track of them because they aren't exactly solid. So we have people patrolling the place all the time. Many people have died because the Despairs take control of their minds and cause to go crazy, commit suicide or murder other people."

Kairi sighed sadly. It was a harsh fate for everyone.

"No one is ever safe," Canaan finished.

"That's so sad," Serenity said.

Canaan merely nodded and then said, "So what are you're plans?"

"Well, we wanted to go to the Vector tour," Kairi said.

"I'll escort you there then."

Like he said, he took them right to the Vector building and left them there before saying his farewells and leaving to where he needed to go.

The tour was very informative. The information given didn't make much sense to Kairi though. Serenity was the only one really enjoying herself. Jake found some things interesting and Skye looked as blank as ever but tired because of the events that had just taken place.

As soon as the tour was over, they all trekked back to the ship to turn in for the night. They were unknowingly being watched from the darkness.

"_I found you, princess. Sarg is going to be so happy to hear about this."_

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**Author's Note: Alright, another chapter done... A mind controller, I wonder who that is and they're reporting Kairi's location to Sarg. What's going to happen to Kairi?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who made Kingdom Hearts for us all? Certainly not me. Same goes for Legend of Dragoon. All I made was this plot and some characters. Nothing more.**

**----------------------------------------------**

Chapter 10

Sora looked around in amazement. Lohan was truly a remarkable place. Of all the worlds he has been to, this topped them all.

While Sora was gaping at the place, Damia and Damien looked around the nearby shops, trying to find the best prices for potions and other battle needs. Peta was also looking around at the different peddler blankets because they usually have the odd item that could be of use.

Peta spotted a set of curious items and squatted down to look at them. There were eight glass spheres with different colours.

"Ah, taking an interest in the Dragoon Spirits, eh?" the peddler said.

"Where did you get these?" Peta asked suspiciously.

The peddler grinned, showing off his yellow, chipped teeth and started on his story, "I climbed all through the monstrous volcano which sits in the distance and found a great cave. The dragon spirit that resided there congratulated me on my job well done of getting there and it rewarded me with these eight dragon spirits. They were each sitting on there own pedestal, glowing with all their grand colours. I took them graciously and brought them here to sell to the most deserving customers. You see, these stones can cure any alignment and grant the user with their powers!"

Peta just nodded her head and smirked before leaning closer to peddler and saying, "That would such a great story, if you told that you someone who knows the majority of the Dragoons personally."

The peddler sneered, "Get out of my sight! You're just jealous because you don't have the entire set!"

Peta shrugged and turned to find Sora looked at her in confusion.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"That peddler is trying to sell fake Dragoon spirits," Peta shrugged.

"How do you know they're not real?" Sora asked.

"There are only eight, I know where six of them are," Peta said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh… Then how do you know that the two you can find aren't with him?"

"The stones react to each and start to glow. If he had the two missing ones, then I would know."

"Makes some sense… Who are these Dragoon people? What exactly are they?"

"Dragoons are half human, half dragon. When Lord Soa created all the living creatures he had to make sure to keep the balance. When he created dragons, they were so powerful that he couldn't give them intelligence. And I'm saying the humans are incredibly smart, but we can think of plans and formulate answers. Following?"

Sora thought about it and then nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

"Well, there was war over 10,000 years ago and they only way to win was to combine humans with dragons, so seven dragoon warriors rose up and ended the war. Most of the dragoons died then, except two and the stones were scattered."

"Two survived?"

"Yeah, the Dark Dragoon and The Red-Eye Dragoon. The Red-Eye Dragoon was petrified for the longest time."

"Petrified?"

"You are turned to stone and there's only one thing that can save you from it, which is the antidote for it," Peta simplified.

Sora nodded but then asked, "So what about these two Dragoons? What was so important that history recorded that they were still alive?"

Peta smiled and said, "The Red-Eye Dragoon, he's my grandfather."

Sora gaped and tried to figure out how that worked since he fought in the war 10,000 years ago.

"I know it's weird but this'll make perfect sense, you see, my grandfather was petrified, right? When the magic wore off, 10,000 years had gone by so he just blended in with society, got married, and had Dart, my dad."

Sora crossed his arms and smiled, "Oh, I get it! But what about the Dark Dragoon?"

"She was given a choker that made her immortal. Every 108 years she had to kill the moon child to save the world. But the last moon child, she missed."

Sora furrowed his brows and looked at the girl critically.

"My mom was the moon child, and she had a twin. The Dragoon killed the twin and then 18 years later, my dad and all the other Dragoons saved the world and my mom."

"You come from one crazy family," Sora concluded thinking of her grandfather, her father and her mother.

"I guess you could say that."

A bunch of commotion started at the front gate. Damia and Damien found Sora and Peta and the four crept up to the gate to see what was going on.

There was a man who was bleeding heavily and obviously in shock. Peta shoved the people out of the way and ran to the man to see that he was mumbling. Sora, Damia and Damien soon joined her.

"What happened?" Peta asked.

"Th-Th-Th-Th… THE BLACK MONSTER HAS RETURNED!"

The crowd started to talk amongst themselves. Peta knew he must've been seeing things so she asked, "Where? Where was the Black Monster?"

"It was- It was flying to the Black… Castle…" and the man's body went limp.

Peta put him down and backed up shaking her head, "He's gone."

She stood up and walked over to her travel mates and said quietly to them, "He said the Black Monster was heading for the Black Castle, that's where we should go."

"Wait, shouldn't we plan this out more?" Damien asked.

"The Black Monster is dead. Someone mistook the creature for it. It must be the Despair that's in the Black Castle."

"How about we plan as we walk, it'll save us some time," Sora suggested.

"Good idea, let's move," Damia said while dragging Damien behind her.

The group left Lohan and got right back on the main road. Peta was thinking hard on her father's stories about his journey. She remembered that he said that he had to break into the Black Castle and she was trying to remember how he did it.

"If there's a back door, we should take it. The despairs may not be expecting anyone to even come near the place so it may be unguarded."

Peta stopped and laughed with victory, "Back door! That's it!"

Everyone stopped and looked at her with confusion.

"My dad snuck in and they used a back door. There was a secret tunnel way around back. It was like a colony back there and they had a secret entrance. All we have to do it go to that back area and look for the tunnel."

"Yeah!" the others cheered.

Peta's declaration of using the back door to get into the Black Castle was the most eventful thing that happened on their journey to the Black Castle because a couple hours later found them standing at the entrance to the now ghost town where the Black Castle stood.

"Wow…" Sora awed.

No matter what time it was, it seemed that the place was surrounded by darkness. One big dark cloud surrounded the area making it impossible to see the sun.

"It's cold," Damien said while looking at the warm air coming from his mouth.

"And I suddenly feel really sad. I was excited that we were finally going to rid our country of the Despairs and now my confidence is gone…" Peta said while rubbing her arms trying to find warmth.

"There are so many Despairs here. Sadness and coldness must be radiating off of them," Damia said while looking around.

Sora didn't add his thoughts. His face was starting to get cold and dark thoughts were gathering in his mind. A few silent moments went before he finally said something.

"Let's go. The faster we beat this thing the faster we'll feel better," Sora said and started walking inside the gate.

Sora looked around and saw a back alley and turned into it, not bothering to look behind to see if his companions were following because he could hear their footfalls behind him.

Peta ran up to Sora and started walking beside him.

"Sora?"

Sora didn't answer and just kept on walking.

"Sora!"

Sora stopped and turned to her. He felt cold and could feel the despair in the air gathering around him.

Peta took a step back and the sight. Sora had a tanned face but because of this place, he was pale. She doubted she was any different.

Sora brought her out of her thoughts by asking, "What?"

"You just… seemed so distance for a while," Peta said before walking again.

Sora looked confused and put a hand behind his head and scratched it. Damia and Damien came up along his sides as Peta disappeared around the corner.

"I know you're a little off right now, Sora, but don't worry. As soon as we're done here, then we can leave and start looking for Kairi again," Damien said wisely.

Sora looked at Damien and nodded before saying, "I know. It just feels like the despair here is darkening that thought and telling me that I've lost her."

Damia put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Ignore it, Sora. She's probably looking for you like we're looking for her. You have to believe you'll find her, Sora."

Sora looked at Damia and nodded, "Yeah. We'll find her."

Then, the trio heard Peta scream from around the corner that she took off around. They ran around the corner and saw Peta on the ground a little ways away and towering over her was a large Despair. Like all others, it was black and purple and the colours swirled around the Despair's body. It seemed to have a definite shape of four legs, a long tail, a circular shaped head and multiple forms coming out of its back.

They all ran up and stood in front of Peta so that she could regain her ground. She must have been scoping around, looking for the way around back when the Despair attacked.

"It must be some sort of guardian beast," Damia said.

Behind it was a bridge that led straight into the castle.

Damien acted first, running up and jumping to attack its head. Damia jumped next and joined Damien in the fray.

Sora turned and saw that Peta was standing with her sword in her right hand and in a battle stance.

"Ready?" he asked.

Peta nodded and together they lunged and joined their two companions. The guardian beast-type Despair trashed at them. Suddenly, it pulsed and sent all four sprawling away. Damien flew and hit the wall back-first, Damia slide across the bridge towards the castle, and Sora rolled down the street.

They began to recover and looked around. The three noticed that Peta wasn't anywhere in sight.

"HELP!"

On the edge of the bridge over the river is where Peta hung for dear life. Sora was the closest. The Guardian Beast was also doing something different, the forms that were sticking up from its back started glowing and gathering energy. Sora ignored this and ran for the edge. Peta was slipping fast and with a final cry, she fell into the water.

"PETA!" Sora cried as he saw her tiny fingers disappear from sight.

He got to the edge and looked over to see that she wasn't in sight. Meanwhile, the Guardian Beast's forms were so full of energy that they looked like they would burst.

"Sora! We'll look for her after, or else there won't be anyone to look for her!" Damia shouted as she started for the Guardian Beast.

"Sora, she wouldn't want you to get yourself killed over her! You must fight!" Damien added as he followed Damia's example.

Sora wasn't listening to them. He angrily turned to face the Guardian Beast and summoned the Omega Weapon and screamed.

Energy surrounded Sora and all attention went to him. No one was moving. Even the Guardian Beast was looking at Sora with curiosity.

Damia was the closest to Sora and she felt anger soar through the air. Her gut feeling told her to move and fast.

"DAMIEN! RUN!" Damia shouted as she turned and ran for shelter.

Damien turned and ran around behind the building they first came out from behind when they started fighting the Guardian Beast. Damien started to feel Sora's anger.

Sora's voiced echoed through the air as he unleashed a fatal attack against the Guardian Beast.

"ELIMINATION STANCE!"

The Beast let out a cry of pain before it evaporated in the pulse that emitted from Sora's body. Sora wavered in exhaustion before falling forwards onto the ground. He was losing consciousness and felt himself being rolled over and saw Damien standing over him, with his mouth moving as he said something. Then everything for Sora went black.

**----------------------------------------------**

**Author's Note: Okay, so maybe it's not going to be 3 chapters. Oh well. So, is Sora okay okay? Did Peta really die? Find out in the next chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this up... and I've posted Chapter 12 with this too... Chapter 12 was easier to write than this one lol... I'm not exactly happy with how I ended this though... I hope you enjoy these chapters!!!**

* * *

Chapter 11

Lauren roamed around the empty space port. She stuck to the shadows where her black hood and black jumpsuit shielded her from sight. She crept up to the Floating Kingdom and used her mind control to open the lock. She used her mind to search for any active minds before walking into the ship and looking around.

Suddenly, a red blade appeared from behind her and went around her throat and she was grabbed by another hand.

"Despair," a male voice hissed.

Lauren didn't speak but search for him with her mind and found a very inactive mind.

"How come I can't sense you?" Lauren hissed back.

"There's nothing to sense, Despair."

Lauren glared forward before she elbowed her captor and spun to look at him. She saw the fiery-orange haired man that was with the princess and her companions.

"What are you? Why didn't I sense you?" she demanded.

Canaan looked at her emotionlessly and said, "I am not human if that's what your asking."

She merely sneered and spat, "Next time we meet I will defeat you and I will take the princess back."

Lauren turned and ran from the ship. Canaan followed to the door and saw her disappear into the shadows.

"We shall see."

Later on, when Kairi woke up, she found Canaan sitting in a chair in the cockpit. He had it spun around to face the hall, more specifically, the hatch to the outside. His eyes were closed and her arms were crossed over his chest.

Kairi thought he was sleeping, so she quietly walked by and to her seat in front of the flight controls. She was listening to Rachael as she told Kairi to check for any signals and maybe they would find the mother ships nearby that could point her to Sora.

In the chair, Canaan wasn't asleep. He was resting his eyes and was well aware that Kairi had walked by. He remembered their uninvited visitor's words last night.

"We had a visitor last night," he said.

Kairi jumped and turned to see that Canaan was talking to her, but was still in the sae position as before.

"We did? Who?" Kairi asked.

"It was a Despair."

"What?" Kairi gasped.

"She said that she was going to defeat us next time we met and she would take back the princess."

"Oh," Kairi sighed, looked back at the controls.

"I know she meant you, Kairi. I feel different around you than I do around other people. I'm sure lots of people would say the same."

"Yeah. I'm the one they're after."

Canaan cracked an eye open and looked over his shoulder at the teenager at the flight controls, "I have no doubt you will overcome them."

Kairi looked back at Canaan with a shocked expression and then said, "Thank you, Canaan."

Canaan didn't show any response to her thanks, but you could tell that he meant what he said simply by feeling it. It made Kairi feel good inside because this whole long-term fighting thing was new to Kairi and the more people that believed in her the harder she would work for the people.

A cry of fear echoed throughout the ship and a fear-ridden Serenity ran into the cockpit exclaiming, "Have you seen Jake?"

Kairi and Canaan shook their heads and Serenity gasped and ran from the ship. Kairi and Canaan jumped and ran after her.

Inside they Second Miltia hangar, they all shouted Jake's name and asked everyone in sight if they had seen a little boy. Serenity was on the verge of hysterics when Kairi found a worker that said he did see a little boy leaving the hanger in the early hours of the morning.

Canaan couldn't figure out how the kid left without him knowing. He pictured the little boy and knew that he couldn't have gotten out without something helping him. Canaan recalled their late night visitor.

"He could be anywhere, Kairi!" Serenity cried as she looked longingly at the exit of the hangar.

"I know, Serenity, but we have to keep our heads on straight. We'll go outside and ask around and maybe alert the local authorities-"

Canaan cut her off saying, "I know where he is."

Serenity dived at him and clutched his shirt exclaiming, "Where! Where is he, Canaan?!"

Kairi pried her off so that Canaan would have a chance to answer.

"Our visitor, last night…"

Kairi caught on quickly but since Serenity didn't hear he story she immediately assumed the worst, "You let someone kidnap my little brother!?"

"Serenity, calm down, we already know that he wasn't kidnapped and that he walked out by himself. If you let Canaan continue, then he can fill you in," Kairi reasoned.

"…Fine," Serenity huffed.

Canaan explained how the despair had come into the ship the night before, looking for Kairi but he caught her as she got in and before he could get rid of her, she escaped. She had said about not sensing his mind while she had been there.

"…And when I first met you, she had taken control of your minds and using you to attack Kairi. She probably used her mind control to take Jake. Children have very active minds, so he was probably having an intense dream which helped her find him. She knew we'd go looking for him and is probably using him to get Kairi to come so that she could take her," Canaan said.

Serenity digested Canaan's explanation and Kairi sighed.

"He was taken… Because of me," Kairi said sadly.

Her companions looked at her, but didn't say anything.

Laruen looked at the boy in front of her. His eyes looked lifeless as she held her control on him.

"Go and see your sister. Don't get too close but make sure she notices you and make her follow you back here. Now go!"

Jake lifelessly nodded and turned to leave.

Kairi, Skye, Serenity and Canaan walked around Second Miltia. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and Jake still wasn't anywhere to be found.

They finally made their way to the park where they first encountered the despairs on this planet. It was also the same as ever and Serenity was losing her patience.

Kairi heard a twig snap from the bushes and looked to see what it was. Canaan sensed her sudden movement and Serenity looked with some hope after she saw Canaan move.

There was a dark shadow and they all thought it was a despair. Kairi summoned the Oathkeeper, Canaan pulled out his red blade and Serenity pulled out her gun.

Kairi boldly called out, "Who's there?"

The shadow emerged, it was Jake.

"Jake!" Serenity called out before running to her little brother.

Jake merely stood there as Serenity grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He showed no signs of comprehending the scolding that Serenity was giving him for taking off like his did and asking him if he was okay.

"Jake? Why aren't you saying anything?" Serenity asked as she pulled away from the younger boy.

Canaan took a surveying look at the boy and before he could react Jake had pushed away from Serenity and ran. Serenity ran after him but found difficulty keeping up with him. Kairi pulled Skye along and Canaan followed. They were hot on Serenity's tail, but they were losing ground on Jake and fast.

"When did he get so fast?" Serenity asked.

Canaan interjected, "I think the despair is controlling him. She may have probed him mind to move his legs faster.

Jake them into a building and was about to go through a door when Kairi aimed her keyblade at him and shouted, "Time stop!"

Jake froze and Serenity ran up to him, pulling his body to her and looking around.

"I see my pawn has brought you right where I want you," said a voice over the speakers.

The group looked around and it was Canaan that pointed to a black window that people on the other side could obviously see through on the other side.

"Get them, my loyal pawns!"

Despairs formed all around the group and stared closing in. Serenity leaned Jake against a wall and was joined by Kairi, Skye and Canaan, in an attempt to protect the child from the despairs that were closing in on them. Kairi pushed Skye over to Jake at the wall and said, "Skye, please stay there with Jake."

Skye looked the same as ever but something flashed through his eyes that told Kairi that he would. Kairi turned back to watch the despairs.

She lifted her keyblade and closed her eyes, focusing her determination to see Sora again, and to bring Skye to him. She held the keyblade straight out to her left with her right hand and then quickly swung it to the right, sweeping the front line of the despairs off their feet.

Serenity took the chance to shoot the fallen despairs while they were weak and Canaan started rushing the second line. Kairi followed and took them on with supporting fire from Serenity.

Kairi watched one of the last ones dissolve before her and she turned to look at Canaan to see a despair jump high into the air while he was busy with one that just wouldn't seem to die. Kairi knew she was too far away to run to him, so she threw her keyblade at the airborne despair.

Canaan finally beat the one he was working on and looked over his shoulder to see the despair coming from behind. He spun and held up his arms in defence, but the blow never came. He opened his eyes to see Kairi's keyblade returned to her and she smiled at him.

"Those weak fools… I'll deal with you myself!"

The group looked up at the sound of glass breaking and saw Lauren jump from the observation room. She landed with grace a few meters away.

Serenity sharply took aim and fired but Lauren was faster than that. She lifted up her hands and stopped the bullet in mid air. A soft clang echoed through the room when the bullet hit the ground.

"Too slow, sugar," mocked Lauren as she went for her next attack, which was directed at Canaan.

Canaan jumped to the side and lashed out his red blade, but Lauren had manipulated the gravity around them to stop anything from hitting her.

Kairi watched, not knowing what to do.

'_If Sora were here, he would know what to do.'_

Then, a picture flashed into her head of Sora casting a time spell to bring floating platforms down.

Kairi pointed the end of her keyblade at Lauren and thought of the time around her. Suddenly Lauren's movements slowed.

"What is this?" Lauren demanded.

Kairi charged for Lauren with a new look of determination and swung. Lauren's slowed movements prevented her from increasing the gravity to stop the keyblade from striking her. The Oathkeeper struck Lauren hard and she fell to the ground. Kairi jumped back and pointed her keyblade at her and a silver stream shot at Lauren, making her disappear.

"Silly, Princess, you cannot escape destiny."

And Lauren was gone.

Kairi, Serenity, Skye, and Jake stood at the bottom of the ramp of the _Floating Kingdom_ and Canaan stood across from them.

"It's noticeably quieted down. That Despair, Lauren, must've been controlling all of the Despairs here. I think they'll be gone for a while," Canaan said.

"That's good," Kairi said.

"Well, that Sora guy wasn't here either," Serenity said, while holding the sleeve of her little brother's shirt, not wanting to have him run off again.

"Yeah…" Kairi sighed.

Canaan looked between the two girls. Skye stood behind Kairi and Jake was in front of Serenity. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Canaan. We'll have to come back sometime and see you again," Kairi said.

Canaan nodded, "Maybe I'll get to meet this Sora guy I've been hearing about."

"Yeah," Kairi smiled at the mere thought of Sora.

"Hey! I want to come too!" Jake said.

"You bet, buddy," Serenity said to her little brother.

"Well, we'll be going now. Take care, Canaan," Kairi said.

"Thank you and you too," Canaan said.

Canaan watched the group climb onto the _Floating Kingdom_. The engines roared to life and it took off.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Sora's vision adjusted as he slowly opened his eyes and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked around and saw that he was beside a building that looked awfully alike the one he was trying to get into…

"PETA!" Sora shouted as he jumped to his feet and staggered before falling back down. He unknowingly caught the attention of his remaining companions, who rushed over.

"Hey, Sora. You doing okay?" Damien asked as Damia crouched to Sora's level.

"Where's Peta?" Sora asked, already knowing the answer.

"I… couldn't find her," Damien sighed, ashamed for losing a companion.

"Sora sighed, and then banged his fist on the ground. Then he jumped up and faced the door, ignoring the dizzy feeling he had. He walked to the door and trying to open it and found that it wouldn't open. He ran back a few paces and then rammed the door with his shoulder only to meet even more pain than he was already in.

"Don't you think we've tried that?" Damia asked.

Sora didn't give up and spotted two tiny keyholes. He leaned close and knew he would need help. Damien walked up to him and saw the keyholes and spotted Sora's keyblade appearing in his hand.

"The key…" Damien said in realization before summoning his own.

The two jumped back and a light started to glow at the end of the blades, a breeze flew around them and the light from the ends of the two keyblades and struck the locks. An audible click was heard as the door unlocked and the door slowly came open.

"Let's end this," Sora said lowly. So low that it was almost a growl.

Damia and Damien followed wordlessly

Everywhere hurt and she was so cold because she was soaked beyond belief. She felt some kind of liquid dripping down her face and didn't know if it was water or blood.

She pushed herself up and looked around. She was on the bank of the river that she must've fallen into when the despair's attack hit her.

"Ah…" she groaned as she stood up. She staggered as she tried to regain her balance.

Vision finally cleared and balance maintained, she looked up and saw an old side village with a towering structure over it that was blocking out the sun.

"The Black… Castle!" Peta exclaimed, "I can get in this way!"

Peta rushed up the bank and onto the dirt paths that once served as roads for the villagers that had lived there years ago. She looked around and shuddered.

"I need warmth…" she said as she walked to find someplace that may have left over clothes.

She walked into one of the many doors and looked around. Dust layered everything and spiders scurried around their nets. Peta looked around inside and realized that it was once an inn and a healing clinic. She looked around the old counters and found old clothes that were being eaten to pieces.

She sighed and sat down on a box with another shiver. She wiggled to get comfortable and heard hinges shake. She looked down at the box to see that it was a chest. She got off and opened it up to see that it had been sealed but the hinges broke when she wiggled it.

Inside was a black tank top, red shoulder plates, a red, left arm plate, black pants, a red headband, leather gloves, red pelvic plates, red shin plates and leather boots. Coincidentally, it was all her size.

"This it really weird…" Peta said as she examined the clothes, wondering how the clothes maintained their form and colour when everything else had not.

Something sounded behind her and she turned on the spot in a defensive position to find a spirit behind her. It looked like her father, but something was a little off…

"Grandpa?" she asked nervously.

The spirit smiled and nodded. Zeig gestured to the box and Peta got the hint.

"You put this here for me," she said.

He nodded again, before waving his hand towards the broken healing crystal on the ceiling and they watched it mend itself.

Peta took the clothes and left the armour to change as she wasn't changing in front of her grandfather, no matter how dead he was and when she was done, she ran for the healing crystal and healed herself then she came back and pulled on the leather boots and the armour on. She examined herself in a broken mirror and reminded herself of her dad.

Her grandfather nodded in approval before waving his hand over the box again. It shuddered and snapped shut again. Peta looked at her grandfather in confusion and he gestured to it again. She walked over and opened it to see a weapon. It was a sword that had spikes on the end. Something in hr memory triggered and she whipped around to face the spirit of her grandfather.

"This was your weapon, right?"

He nodded then started walking outside.

"Wait!" Peta shouted as she ran after him.

He walked for a while and then pointed at a door. Peta walked up to the door and opened it to look inside. In the far corner, she saw a ladder that led down. She turned to her grandfather only to find that he was gone.

"Thanks, Grandpa."

Sora led the way inside and any despair that stood in his way met the end of his keyblade. Damia and Damien never got a chance to swing their own. Finally they found themselves inside the throne room. A teen, no older than Peta sat on it.

"I was wondering if you were even going to show up," he said.

Sora swung his keyblade to show that he met business.

"Who are you? You're human!" Damien shouted.

"Am I? I'm Matt," he said simply.

Sora didn't need to hear more and charged Matt. Matt jumped out of the way and drew a dual-bladed sword.

"Sora!" Damia shouted.

Sora didn't listen, and the two teens fought hard against each other. Sora swung low and Matt jumped and did a back flip then lunged at Sora. Sora spun out of the way and swiped for Matt's middle only to meet air. Matt appeared behind him and elbowed him in the back and sent Sora to the ground. Sora turned to see Matt standing over him and watched him raise his sword to strike. Sora raised his blade to block the attack and closed his eyes… Only to notice that it wasn't coming.

"Peta!?"

Sora opened his eyes to see Peta straddling Matt on the ground. Matt was holding his sword in defensive against Peta spiky sword. He noticed that she was wearing something different.

"Enough of this child's play…" Matt growled.

Matt brought his legs up and kicked Peta off of him. She flew and hit the wall and slide down, with her eyes closed.

Matt stood up and then laughed a possessed laugh. Sora, Damia and Damien stared as darkness swirled around him. The darkness sparked and he burst. When the darkness cleared, Matt was floating, with wings and dark blue armour. His dual-blade sword was bigger and he overall looked more menacing.

"Let's begin," Matt said.

This time, Sora, Damia and Damien were fighting. They all through attacks at him but his armour was so great that they couldn't even scratch him.

"This isn't working, Sora!" Damia shouted.

In the corner, Peta groggily opened her eyes to see her companions fighting the darkness dragoon. She sat up and noticed something sparkle in the corner of her eye. She looked over to see a crystal and as she reached for it, it shone red and she smiled and picked it up, feeling its warmth surge through her. She felt herself transforming.

Everyone looked over at the red light. It was just like Matt's light, only red. When the light cleared, Peta floated there in red armour and a larger version of her spiky sword.

"Now we're even," she said as she flew to attack the darkness dragoon.

"DEATH DEMINSION!"

"FLAME SHOT!"

The attacks hit their targets. The keyblade wielders stood back and watched as the two dragoon decked it out. Fire and darkness flew everywhere and none wanted to get hit by it.

Finally, the two were so worn out that they were standing on the ground on bent knee. The two raised their weapons and then took one last lunge at each other. Both landed on their feet and stood there for a second.

Peta wavered and she fought to keep her dragoon form. Finally, she lost the form fell to her knees and struggled for breath.

Matt on the other hand, lost his form and fell completely over. Dora felt the darkness leave the Dark Castle and they all ran other to Peta. She got up and pushed them all out of the way and ran to Matt, who was slowly breathing.

She rolled him over and then held her dragoon spirit over him. A blackness left his body and took form of a despair, which was cut down by Damia.

Matt open his eyes and looked up to see Peta. His eyes were slightly different from before.

"The despairs… are in… Hellena…"

Sora looked like himself for once since he woke up. They all watched Matt's eyes close and him fall limp in Peta's arms.

"Let's go," Peta said.

They all agreed and they all ran from the castle. Peta looked back at the teen she had just beaten.

'_I'll be back.'_

Hellena wasn't all that far. They ran the entire way, pumped with adrenaline from what had just taken place. They found themselves at the front gate of the old prison and burst in.

Darkness radiated everywhere. They all pushed the feeling aside and ran up the many flights of stairs and used the very crude elevators to finally make it to the top, that was once used as an execution area. Laughter sounded all around them and then a Despair appeared in front of them.

"It's hard to believe that you made it this far. But I figured that brat in the Dark Castle would break and tell you, after all, mind control isn't my specialty."

"Show yourself! Coward!" Sora shouted.

"As you wish."

A despair appeared in front of them. He looked strikingly alike a Nobody that Sora fought against 2 years ago but couldn't remember his name.

"Badger's the name, gambling's the game. The entry fee is your lives so prepare to die!"

Badger lunged at the group. As they all threw themselves out of the way he spun around and pulled out sharp discs at the same time. He jumped up and threw four at once, one to each of the fighters.

Sora stepped in front of Peta and shouted, "Reflect!" A similar spell was heard as Damia used it and a _cling_ was heard as Damien struck it back at Badger, which he expertly caught.

Sora ran forward and struck at Badger's middle, only for his attack to miss. It took more energy to attack and miss than to attack and hit your target. Sora stumbled and recovered quickly to block two discs from hitting him.

Peta started to glow again and she took Dragoon form once more. Using her grandfather's weapon, she lunged forward to help the keyblade masters in the fight.

Badger spun around din mid air and flung his attackers away. Sora, Damian and Damien hit the walls while Peta went over the edge, only this time she flew right back up. The other three stood up also.

Sora didn't waste a second in running after Badger. Damia and Damien were a little slower at fighting again, but soon enough they were back in the fray.

"KING OF CLUBS!"

Kings of Clubs started to circle everyone, which made them all start attacking and trying to free themselves from the clubs.

Suddenly, they all started closing in to bind them all from the necks down. Even when they were completely immobile, the binding still continued to tighten. They all fought against the binding, but it wouldn't give. Peta even lose her dragoon form from trying so hard to get out of the binding.

Sora could feel the clubs tightening around his throat, blocking air passage. He tried to take him gulps of air but it wasn't working so well.

His eyes started to close and he could see similar fates for his companions.

'_Is this it?'_

Suddenly, he was dropped to the ground and heard the thuds of his companions hitting the ground. A scurrying was heard after as Damien crawled over to Damia, despite of his weakness. Peta gasped for air and was coughing harshly.

Sora looked at Badger to see why he didn't finish him off and gaped in shock. Badger was busy trying to hold away a sword from his head. Not just any sword, but a dual-bladed sword.

"Ma…tt..." Sora managed.

Matt was in his dragoon form and was paler than when Sora fought him.

"How dare you, brat!" Badger growled.

"I'm not your puppet anymore!" Matt snarled and threw the despair from him and shouted, "DEATH DEMENSION!"

Badger couldn't flee from it and was caught in the attack. He was ultimately drained and couldn't get up.

"Now, Sora! Finish it!" Matt shouted as he landed and reverted back to his human form.

Sora nodded and pushed himself up and walked over to Badger. Badger looked up and tried to attack but Sora swung his keyblade and knocked Badger into the wall.

"Pathetic mortals, you may have defeated me others will still prevail. WE WILL TRIUMPH!"

And his body dispersed into darkness.

Sora sighed and let his keyblade disappear before dropping to the ground to catch his breath. Damia and Damien were supporting each other, taking big gulps of air. Matt put his sword onto his back hilt and then turned to leave, only to be stopped by Peta.

"Wait!"

Matt turned back around to see Peta running to him and dropping in front of him to re-catch her breath.

"You-you saved us? After we defeated you?"

Matt looked away, "I only did what was right. It was the least I could do after all those bad things I did."

"But it wasn't really you. They were controlling you. You're your own person now!"

"People still know me as the 'Black Monster', nobody likes monsters."

"But you're not a monster…"

Matt turned and shouted, "YES I AM! I MADE A TOWN TURN INTO DESPAIRS AND I ORDERED THEM TO TURN A WHOLE KNIGHTHOOD INTO DESPAIRS TOO! Now look at me and tell me I'm not a monster."

Peta stood up and looked at him face to face and said, "You are not a monster."

Matt took a step back in shock in Peta's lack of fear and her boldness. With nothing else to say, he turned his back too her.

"So, where will you go?" she asked a few moments later.

"I have no where to go."

Peta walked around him and smiled at him, "Then come with me. My dad could help you."

"How?"

"He's a dragoon too. We've got to look out to each other, right?"

"Uhhh..."

"Go with her, Matt. Let her family help you," Sora said.

Matt finally agreed a few moments later and they all left for Seles.

"You'll come and visit, right?" Peta asked Sora, Damia and Damien.

"Of course," they all agreed as they waved to Peta, Matt and Peta's family.

"Well, so long!" Sora said as he led Damia and Damien to the ship.

"Bye, Sora! Bye, Damia! Bye, Damien!" chorused from the group's mouths.

And the keyblade masters disappeared from their sights.

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**Author's Note: Again, sorry it was so late, I've just been so busy lately and I'm trying to keep this up... I don't really have this planned out, I've just going with what I think should go on right now. Please Review!!**


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